LITMIR.BIZ

      Oregon’s largest and most storied festival, the Portland Rose Festival occupies more than two weeks with a vast array of activities and events that annually draw more than a million attendees to celebrate eclectic Portland and spotlight the city’s diverse culture. Launched in 1908, the Rose Festival began as a publicity campaign for the then-burgeoning city, and more than a century later this incredible multipronged event, which seamlessly melds contemporary flair with palpable nostalgia, was proclaimed Portland’s official festival. Portland Rose Festival includes three popular parades, a massive carnival-like fair, numerous concerts featuring well-known musicians, the ever-popular Rose Festival Queen coronation, several running events, and much more.

      Rose Festival kicks off on a Friday afternoon with the opening of CityFair at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, with opening-day fireworks following in the evening. Running each weekend of the festival, CityFair is a sprawling family-friendly carnival with myriad vendors, carnival rides, games, live music, and much more (including a Portland Rose Festival museum exhibit). The music lineup is announced on the Rose Festival website and over the years has included an intriguing mix of artists and music genres. Opening weekend also brings the whimsical Rose Festival Point One Run, in which runners (and walkers, strollers, amblers, and anyone else) race a grand total of 528 feet, all within the bounds of CityFair; creative apparel is encouraged, and participants must register in advance, as is the case with all festival races. The serious running begins the next day, Sunday, with the Rose Festival Half Marathon. The festival offers two additional foot-power events: the Starlight Run—Oregon’s largest fun run—features some 5,000 costumed competitors racing not only to break the tape at the finish line but also to garner prizes for best individual and group getups (and the costumes tend to be highly decorative and immensely creative). The Starlight Run follows the 3.1-mile Starlight Parade route and the entire course is lined with cheering spectators—250,000 of them. Even more spectators line the streets for the 4-mile Grand Floral Walk preceding the Grand Floral Parade. Throughout all the festival footraces, participants are treated like champs by event staff and onlookers alike.

      The aforementioned parades, three of them in total, are integral to the Portland Rose Festival. The first, and one of the most popular festival events, is the Starlight Parade, which offers funky, eclectic fun for everyone. From traditional marching bands and flood-lit floats to glow-in-the-dark umbrellas and unique hand-built entries, you’ll see the best of Portland’s diverse community groups (and surrounding Northwest region) together in one whimsical pageant. The Starlight Parade continues a longtime festival tradition from the early 1900s, when illuminated floats built on electric trolley cars made their way through the city on trolley tracks. Today, participants light up the night with approximately 100 illuminated entries along a 2.25-mile route. The parade draws more than 325,000 spectators to Downtown Portland.