Rose Festival

Portland is the City of Roses, and one of the things I love about it here! I'd heard about the Rose Festival before we moved here, but I didn't know what it involved. Apparently, there's a lot to it!

Here's a link to the homepage for the festivities. Last night there were fireworks, which we could here from our house, and tonight there's a starlight parade, but I don't know if we'll be staying downtown that long. I just want to see the blooming roses, since we visited the Rose Garden in February last year and it was devoid of rosy goodness.

One of the big things is the crowning of the Rose Queen. This seems like an antiquated tradition that I thought only happened in farmtowns. You know, crowning of the Cheese Queen, and that sort of thing. Apparently it's a big deal here. Or, at least, people want it to be. I read an article a month or two ago about last year's Rose Queen, and how she won the title because she was the only girl who entered. This year, they've broadened the criteria for entering to encourage more girls to try for the title.

I don't know if it's worked (really, what high school girl actually wants to be Rose Queen in a parade?), but I think we saw a lot of Rose Princesses in the St. John's parade. If they weren't Rose Princesses, then I'd like to know why so many girls in crowns and tiaras were waving at us from convertibles and horseback.

One event I'm sort of intrigued by is the Rose Show. They apparently transform the mall's ice skating rink (yes, our mall has an ice skating rink in the middle of it) into "a delightful rose garden with over 2,000 blooms". The photos show elderly folks browsing the rose bouquets, which appear to be slapped down on white tables. Disappointing! I'd go see it if they actually made cool sculptures out of them or something. At least the competition winner will receive a "sparkling trophy", which I couldn't find a photo of.

If we need something fun to do on my birthday, we can go downtown for the Rose Parade, which might actually be worth seeing. We've already seen two parades while we were here, so I know how pdx-ers love their parades. Maybe this one will be a little more impressive.