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The Grand Floral Parade Is a Highlight Reel of Pacific Northwest Enthusiasms

People were shouting and pushing and saying...

Rose Festival Floral Parade (John Rudoff)
By Aaron Mesh

On June 9, the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade (better known as the Rose Parade to you and me and Elliott Smith) weaved its way through the Lloyd District.

With marching bands and dance teams hailing from Tualatin to Tumwater, the event serves as a pastiche of all the parades held in small towns across the region—a highlight reel of Pacific Northwest enthusiasms.

Portland even contributed its own most commonly seen march: the protest. Police arrested eight people at a die-in for Gaza intended to halt the procession down Broadway.

Also spotted: firefighters playing bagpipes; a squad of electricians, each dressed as Rosie the Riveter; and DAWN, a nonprofit funding the Ukrainian army.

See photos by John Rudoff:

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