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For the third year in a row, the Grand Floral Parade, one of three parades held during the Portland Rose Festival, did not snake its way through downtown last Saturday.
The parade was rerouted to Northeast Portland in 2022, after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WW asked Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office what it’s doing to return the Rose Festival’s flagship event to a downtown straining for a rebound. “While the mayor would have liked to route the Grand Floral Parade through downtown, this year’s available resources made it unfeasible,” Wheeler’s spokesman Cody Bowman said in an email to WW. “Instead, the city worked to support all events, including CityFest and the downtown Starlight Parade, to ensure safe and successful celebrations throughout the central city.”
The event went off (almost) without a hitch. At about 11:15 am, Portland police and Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies arrested eight people for blocking the parade route with a die-in to protest the war in Gaza.
“They were welcome to be there and engage in free speech,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a press release. “However, they were warned not to disrupt the parade.” (See photos, here.)
Nick Brodnicki, chief operating officer of the Rose Festival, said it was too soon to say whether downtown will be on the route next year.
“We’re not ready to speak to this topic at this time,” Brodnicki said in an email. “Please feel free to reach out later in September.”