82nd Avenue of Roses Parade Cuts Its Route by Half

The change is to better accommodate seniors and middle school marching bands.

The 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade in 2018 (FRED WIECHMANN WIECHMANN PHOTOGR/Courtesy 82 Roses Community Enrichment Coalition)
By Rachel Saslow

The 19th annual 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade will return Saturday, April 26, albeit an abbreviated version. The new route will be about a mile long, down from its traditional 2.2 miles. The change, according to parade organizer Nancy Chapin, was to accommodate the marchers.

“We had a lot of our folks that are elders saying, ‘This is a pretty long parade and we are having a hard time walking 2.2 miles,’” Chapin says. “For middle schoolers carrying tubas, walking 2.2 miles was really hard on them too.”

The parade will begin at the Eastport Plaza Shopping Center, travel north on Southeast 82nd Avenue and then disband on Southeast 80th Avenue and Clinton Street. The parade will no longer travel up to Southeast Yamhill Street and the Montavilla neighborhood.

“For the most part, the section past Division up to Yamhill was pretty sparsely attended,” Chapin says. “So it didn’t feel quite as bad to have to close that section.”

Feedback has been mixed. Some residents of Southeast Yamhill Street have been “very disappointed” about the change, according to Chapin, while some of the area businesses have been relieved to not have the road closed for two hours on a Saturday.

The 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade is an all-volunteer run effort that celebrates the strength and the history of the eastside of Portland. The new parade route was first reported in Montavilla News.

“There’s really nothing big that tries to pull the eastside together, though we aren’t as big as we would like to be,” Chapin says.

The group didn’t get enough funds together to livestream the parade this year, though video will be available afterwards on the group’s website, 82 Roses Community Enrichment Coalition. Scheduled parade entries this year include the Portland Winterhawks, Multnomah County Library, Portland Lee’s Association Dragon & Lion Dance Team, bands, horses, clowns and the Black Bear Diner’s bear mascot. The committee that originally organized the parade 20 years ago will serve as the grand marshals.

GO: 19th Annual 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, Southeast 82nd Avenue from Southeast Bush Street to Clinton Street. 82rosescec.com/. 9:30-11:30 am Saturday, April 26. Free.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.