Rose Festival Starts Today

Portland’s annual Rose Festival starts today and continues for the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow night there will be fireworks on the waterfront and then Saturday night the Starlight Parade will march through downtown. The following Saturday features the Grand Floral Parade but we’re going to have to miss it this year because of a Scouting event. I’ve always preferred the more informal Starlight Parade anyway. CPS HQ is located right on the parade route so we get free front row seats every year. Everyone else marks their “reservations” with duck tape on the sidewalk and lawn chairs chained to roadside signs.

Every year the big ships come in and dock for a few days while their sailors roam the streets of Portland enjoying shore leave. There is also a week long Family Fun Center with carnival rides, but we hardly ever go there.