Everything Is Coming Up Roses
Written: Jun 13 '06 (Updated Jun 20 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A great community celebration.
Cons: Expect a lot of children and huge crowds at some events.
The Bottom Line: A great summer festival that has something for everyone.
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| HaplessChild's Full Review: Portland Rose Festival |
The Portland Rose Festival is a 99-year old yearly tradition that started when Harry Lane decided that the Lewis and Clark Exhibition of 1905 was a great way to draw crowds and make money. He named it The Rose Festival, and filled it with fireworks and parades. In 1907, some local businessmen took Harry’s idea and organized the Rose Festival into a nonprofit event that raises money for the next year’s event. 99 years later the event is still going strong, with a host of sponsors, a variety of activities, and it brings in 80 million dollars for the local economy.
I have been attending Rose Festival events for the past six years. As next year is the centennial celebration, and they should be doing it up in high style, I would like to cover a few different events of the festival so that the overwhelmed tourist or festival attendee will not miss something really great for something not so great.
And now, here’s Nat with the weather.
The Rose Festival is held in the beginning of June, but this is still Portland, OR we are talking about. There will most assuredly be rain sometime during the main events, and the amount of rain will affect your enjoyment. When attending outdoor events, I highly suggest a poncho or umbrella, even if it is clear outside when the event starts. Also take into account that places (such as the Waterfront Village) become gigantic mud pits after several days of foot traffic and rain, so if you still want to brave it, don’t wear anything you will cry over if it gets soiled.
Getting There
Most Rose Festival events are right on the MAX (light rail) line. Trimet.org can help you plan a route to the events. Parking downtown can sometimes be a nightmare, but following events like the parades and fireworks, the MAX lines can become unbelievably crowded, even with trains running every five minutes. If you are carting around blankets, chairs, or coolers, or hate feeling a stranger rub against you in a crowded train, I would suggest driving and parking in the downtown area. If you can brave the crowds for a few stops, the Portlander trick is to park near the Lloyd Center (a mall on the east side) and then take the close-by MAX. You will be in a zone called Fareless Square and will get to ride downtown without paying.
Kicking It Off
The Rose Festival begins with the opening of the Waterfront Village. It is essentially just a huge fair set on the west bank of the waterfront. Carnival rides, carnival food, and sleazy carnies abound, as well as tents full of local crafts, and not-so-local entrepreneurial folk who want to demonstrate cutlery. Other areas include those huge rides that go up high and will make you vomit, and tented areas hosting live musical and cultural acts from around the region.
This is a must-do thing for people with children. Kids love carnival rides, and parents will love that children under 12 get free entries, and that people get in free before 5:00 pm on weekdays. Please keep in mind, however, that the carnival is owned by another company, which means you will have to deal with obnoxious people yelling at you to play the games and go on the rides.
To avoid the rain, the sun, or the feeling that you have walked into a giant meat market, check out the exhibit areas, and the cultural and entertainment stages. This year the stages hosted everything from pirate shows to jazz musicians, a children’s show, Hula dancers, and comedians. The stage areas are also a great place to sit and eat your carnival grub, because the tented dining areas are often packed and unclean.
Hints: The opening night of the Waterfront Village is usually free for everyone to enter at any time, and you can stay late for a fireworks display.
Look at the Loincloth On That Guy!
People in Portland are religious about parades. They could watch them at home on television (local news stations will rerun the major parades), but they don’t really like to. It is not unusual for people wishing to get the best seat for the Starlight Parade to arrive there several hours early and sit around in their lawn chairs until the parade starts. I will get to the madness of the Grand Floral Parade later, so let me begin by saying I have arrived up to two hours before the parade was due to start, and I secured a fairly good spot to sit down at...any time after that and you will most likely be standing. Once the streets are closed, they turn into a giant block party with kids running around tossing footballs, street vendors selling things, and others holding signs that you are going to Hell at any second, so you best repent.
The Starlight Parade is typically held after 9 on a Saturday night, at the beginning of the Rose Festival. Look to the local paper or the Rose Festival website for a route map. The parade hosts dozens of marching bands, and floats that are all lit up in some way. The parade kicks off with the runners of the Starlight Run jogging through the route. A 3.1 mile race filled with thousands of runners who are encouraged to dress in costumes, the run is not to be missed. It is always great fun to see how silly people will get with their costumes. My favorites this year were joggers making political statements about the OSHU tram, and a guy running in nothing but shoes and a loin cloth. Togas are popular, as is Batman.
The floats are never very exciting; they are sponsored by businesses and various organizations, and are sometimes little more than waving people with Christmas lights. I must, however, single out the Standard TV and Appliance Marching Band and the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers. The former boasts over a hundred employees all playing instruments and having a great time, while the latter is an anarchic-looking group of drummers who will knock you down with their fierce beats.
Hints: If you plan on sitting, bring a chair or blanket, but also bring an umbrella. For the past five years, it has always rained during this parade. Some people also sneak into parking garages along the route for a covered, less crowded viewing area. This is an event that getting on the MAX any time directly following the parade will be tough, so bring a car if you can.
Double Bonus Hint: The day after the Starlight Parade marks the first day you can tape off your section for the Grand Floral Parade. If the ground is dry enough, head on over Sunday morning with your duct tape and claim your spot.
Oh, Look.... Another Parade.
The Junior Parade hosts elementary schools, pets, bikes, bands, and everything else under the sun. The route is only a mile long, and they say it is the biggest, oldest children’s parade in the country, but most people that don’t have a child in the parade, or kids that want to watch other kids in the parade, will not miss much skipping this one.
Get Ready For Traffic!
The day of the Junior Parade is also the day the large fleet ships (AKA Fleet Week) begin arriving. While there will already be some cool boats to check out right in front of the Waterfront Village, most people wait to see the arrival of the giant naval ships (and the sailors that come in with them). Tours are given on some of the ships on a first come-first serve basis, and you can also purchase cruises. You don’t have to pay entry into the Waterfront Village to see them, and even people that don’t really like big, gray military war ships will find something interesting to look at. This year’s ships also included pirate ships, where they would give pirate demonstrations for onlookers.
Hint: The day that most of the naval ships arrive (look on the news and in the paper), try to take alternate routes if you need to cross the river. The Steel Bridge that the MAX runs along will need to be lifted many times, so expect MAX delays, and general traffic build up.
Roses On Ice!
In the center of The Lloyd Center sits an ice skating rink. For the main week of the Rose Festival, they cart in hundreds of roses for competition, and set them up in vases on long tables. Some people will find this exciting, others couldn’t care less. If you feel like paying money to walk amongst them, you may, or you can just check then out from afar and save a few bucks. Fortunately, the roses are all in plain view, so you can decide if it is worth a closer look before you pay the entry fee.
Even More Marching Bands
Concert in the Park is a great way to skip the parades if all you enjoy is band music. This was a brand new event for 2006, and it featured the Standard Appliance band (called One More Time Around), Royal Rosarian Band, the Centennial High School Marching Band, Senshuu Sohrya Dancing Group from Osaka, Japan, the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, and various others. Taking place in outdoor ballpark, PGE Park, those who didn’t wish to pay for seats could watch from the gated sidewalk. Hopefully they will make this a tradition, because an often heard complaint from people who view the parade from the streets is that the bands seem to never be playing anything unless they are near a judging area or the news crews.
The Mother Of All Parades.
There are three ways to view the Grand Floral Parade: You can purchase tickets and see it begin in the Memorial Coliseum, you can see it from the streets along the route, or you can watch it at home when it is rebroadcast. Having been deprived of major parades in Las Vegas, I enjoy watching this parade on the street.
And what a scene the street is. Besides marking of places to sit, some parade enthusiasts will set up tents, couches, grills, and bleachers. Yes, Portlanders will leave your tape alone. Once you mark a spot, it is sacred ground. Many of them stay overnight and make breakfast from portable grills in the morning. You will see people in pajamas, kids in silly hats and face paint, and on-duty policemen playing catch with teenagers. Even at 7:00 am, the streets are blocked off and are bustling with hundreds of people.
The parade route spans both the west and east sides of Portland, originating in the east. I have had better luck saving a place for my friends on the east side, and I have often seen people downtown remarking their spots several times over and chaining chairs to polls, and sometimes even sitting in their spot on vigil for days at a time, which just has to be hard to do in the busy streets of downtown.
Is it worth it? Yes, and no. If you hate parades anyhow, you aren’t going to be converted with this one. I like going to the people watching, the insane amounts of religious pamphlets I get to collect, the horses, and the bag pipe players. The floats are huge, creative, beautifully decorated, and have to be covered in flowers or flower petals. There are dozens of dressed-up horses, cultural groups, marching bands, cars, and dancers to entertain. Look for the newly crowned Rose Queen (a girl selected from local high schools who is the equivalent of Portland’s Miss America, but with more community service hours), the always original themes for the horse clean up crews, and the Clydesdale horses.
I am hoping that the parade grows for next year. I have noticed depletion in floats, and sitting near the beginning of the parade gave my group several pauses in the stream of floats or bands- sometimes we waited for over fifteen minutes for something else to show up. It is a tradition that I hope continues, because it really gives you a sense of community when you see all of the different people that come out for a Portland parade.
Bonus Hint: Even if you live in Portland, memorize this line: “I am not registered to vote in Multnomah county.” You will get asked to sign every petition under the sun, and you will be asked to buy home delivery of the Oregonian. While you may wish to sign petitions, wait until you see them some time downtown, because once you sign one they will hound you the entire time you are sitting there.
Getting The Men To Come To Rosefest
Redundant stereotype aside, there are a few cool sporting events that also take place during Rose Festival. The Rose Cup (sports car) races are held during this time, and a grand prix race is scheduled. An air show, although no where near the dates for the main festival, is also associated with this affair. The Dragon Boat Races are free, near the Waterfront Village, and great fun to watch. 100 rowing teams compete in beautifully adorned boats, with most races not lasting more than four minutes.
The Rest Of It
Other events include a huge arts festival that takes place near Portland State University, and an auction to be a judge or in one of the parades. Other businesses hold events or shows around the Rose Festival, so before you plan on attending, check out the calendars for the local theaters, museums, and Pioneer Square. With the exception of weekend nights at the Waterfront Village, and the parades, nothing is annoyingly crowded.
As a whole, I enjoy the Rose Festival, and look forward to it every year. My must-see events are the Starlight and Grand Floral Parade, as well as Fleet Week, and sometimes the Waterfront Village. While the complete dependence on sponsors gets a little insufferable (The Pepsi Waterfront Village! The Southwest Airline Grand Floral Parade!) the events are still enjoyable, even if you can see the need to get in some new blood. There are a lot of angry hipster locals that decry the festival because of those reasons, but I look to the positive experiences it provides instead of the cynicism that I am selling my soul to the big corporation by watching a parade.
For tourists, Portland is a great city to visit anyhow, but planning your visit around The Rose Festival will add a bit of whimsy and fun to your itinerary. You can find out about all of the events, information about hotels, and see pictures of previous Rose Festivals at the official website: www.rosefestival.org . If you make it up here for next year, drop me a line and I might save you a spot for the Grand Floral Parade.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
HaplessChild
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Member: Natalie
Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 87
Trusted by: 72 members
About Me:
Sleep well, weep well, go to the deep well.
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