The Portland Rose Festival is committed now more than ever to sustainability.
- Consistently ranked "Cleanest & Greenest" Festival in America by the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA) for 13 years running -- more than a full decade!
- Partnered with PGE, SOLVE, City of Portland's Maintenance Bureau, several private sanitation companies, and hundreds of volunteers more than a decade ago to build a groundbreaking parade clean-up model, setting an industry standard.
- Annually provide restorative funds to the Portland Parks Department to restore Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park to its natural state.
- CityFair recycles over 7 tons of trash annually.
Longtime partner, Portland General Electric, has stepped up for the fifth year to make the parade that carries its name -- the Starlight Parade -- carbon-neutral by purchasing carbon offsets to counter the carbon of the parade entries. An estimated 240 pounds of carbon dioxide is emitted by the cars, floats and motorcycles in the parade - even the garbage trucks and street cleaners contribute to the carbon. PGE will also purchase enough to cover the emissions of the Grand Floral Parade entries, plus the run of CityFair, the Rose Festival's largest event -- so the estimated 106,000-kilowatt hours of power used by the rides and the vendors could be offset by investments in wind power and other renewable energy sources.
