Get Your Rose Spirit On!
The KeyBank Grand Floral Parade is the crown jewel of the annual Rose Festival, anticipated annually by both locals and festival guests. In 2010 the parade will be an extravaganza of the Rose Festival's theme, 'Rose Spirit,' displaying the colors, variety and excitement of an animated garden.
Highlights include a lineup of 15 fantastic, floral-covered floats, including new entries from Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air and from The Oregonian, sponsoring the first-ever bicycle-powered float, featuring the famous Portlandia statue wearing a distinctive bicycle helmet. The parade also boasts the largest collection of equestrians since the festival's Centennial parade in 2007, with a giant entry from the Pendleton Round-Up, celebrating their hundredth this year. 18 marching bands vie with more dancing groups than ever--including division winners from Pendleton--to bring music, music, music to the line of march.
The first segment of the parade features a guest entry from the Indianapolis Police Motorcycle drill team, winding their way down the 4.2-mile route, their engines reverberating through town. The members of the group are all full-time police officers; they'll fly to Portland, while their bikes will take a longer ride in a special semi-truck designed to carry them.
Later in the parade, 500 Boy Scouts strut their stuff as they march together carrying American flags to celebrate the 2010 Boy Scout Centennial and Jamboree. The Amtrak Cascades Character Clown Corps is back again, so big it takes two entries to hold the hilarity. And, of course, the world's largest permanent marching band, the popular One More Time Around Again Marching Band presented by Standard TV and Appliance, just keeps coming and coming and coming down the street with a sound as big as their numbers.
The parade will feature three special sections:
Northwest Spirit ~ A celebration of all things uniquely Northwest, with entries that depict the fantastic lifestyle and the focus on sustainable energy sources and alternative transportation. The section is led by an avant-garde group of green-clad acrobatic dancers called the Green Men and a Little Lady, who espouse 'entertainment with an environmental message.' The Portland General Electric float features cute electric cars at a charging station; the Portland Gliders ride their distinctive segways; and velomobiles and recumbent bikes from the Human Power Challenge show there's more than one way to make it down a parade route.
Spirit of Service ~ A celebration of the Rose Festival's flag-waving focus. The Royal Rosarians, known around the world for their community service, lead the section, featuring members of the 1960 Rose Festival Court on their float. Entries from the Salvation Army, Portland Fire & Rescue, the Transportation Security Administration, the Jamboree Boy Scouts from the Cascade Pacific Council and a return of the 1st Marine Division Marching Band from Camp Pendleton, California promise to bring parade-goers to their feet, with stirring reminders of the historic importance of patriotism.
International Spirit, presented by The Boeing Company ~ A celebration of the sounds and sights of international cultures, highlighted by an exciting entry of 30-some Samurai warriors from Odawara, Japan, accompanied by more than a dozen Hamamatsu folk dancers. The group is led by one warrior on horseback. Also featured are Portland's sister city, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with a beautiful float and the crowd-pleasing musicians and dancers of the Shu-te Commercial High School marching band; Pedro Sanchez with his amazing dancing horses and mariachi band; the Chinese Lion and Dragon Dancers make their second appearance, while the Ekome Dancers featuring African rhythms are back for their third rousing performance; the Vietnamese Community of Oregon returns with a float entirely designed and built by community volunteers; and dancing groups represent a myriad of cultures, including Irish, East Indian and Tibetan.
Grand Marshal
Grand Marshal Brian Grant was announced on April 27. The former Trail Blazer became well known for his philanthropic work more than a decade ago when he started the Brian Grant Foundation. After the Ohio-born Grant retired to Portland, he was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson's disease and has since refocused his foundation to finding a cure, as well as teaming with the Michael J. Fox Foundation on a summer 2010 fund-raiser.
Al Reser Sweepstakes Award
The death of Al Reser on April 12 left a void in the local community and was deeply felt at the Portland Rose Festival Foundation. Al Reser left a legacy of giving in his generous support of community projects and nonprofits. He was a longtime friend of the Rose Festival, which he loved and supported. He not only sponsored a float in the KeyBank Grand Floral Parade, but he never missed attending the event, staking out his spot on the route ever year and hosting his family and friends.
Al cared about the festival and its staff, making sure the office refrigerator was stocked with Reser products during the busy season.
Reser's Fine Foods sponsored their first float in the Grand Floral Parade in 1989. Since that time, they've won five Sweepstakes Awards and two Kids Sweepstakes Awards. Every float was personally selected, and heavily edited, by Al Reser himself. A consummate showman, Al chose each float based on the joy and pleasure he could share with the parade audience.
In celebration of Al's great community spirit, the Rose Festival is naming its Sweepstakes Award -- the highest honor in the parade -- the Al Reser Sweepstakes Award.
Reserved seating is available at the Memorial Coliseum and includes admission to the Queen's Coronation presented by Pacific Power, from 8:30 a.m.- 9:15 a.m. Reserved seats are also available in premium chairs and bleachers along the television area outside the Coliseum. Parade guests inside the Memorial Coliseum are treated to natural light as the curtains are dropped to allow the view of the outside world to come inside!
After this year's parade, the floats will be displayed adjacent to the Waterfront Village on SW Naito Parkway. There will be no charge for viewing the floats, which will be open from 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. on Saturday and from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday.
See the Lineup of the 2010 KeyBank Grand Floral Parade:
Note: The following document is in PDF format.
Do you need Adobe Reader? It's free!
2010 Lineup [PDF]
(As of June 11, 2010.)
