Rose Festival Return Brings Change To Grand Floral, Starlight Parades

PORTLAND, OR —While we don't yet know what floats will be seen at this year's Spirit Mountain Casino Ground Floral Parade, we do know where the floats will be seen. And where they won't.

The Rose Festival says that there will be changes to two of the three parades that are associated with the festival – The Grand Floral and The CareOregon Starlight Parade.

The Fred Meyer Junior Parade will continue its normal route along Sandy Boulevard through the Hollywood district.

Rose Festival spokesman said that the Grand Floral, the festival's centerpiece, will be entirely on the East Side this year. It will mark the first time that it won't be downtown since 1948 when the Vanport Flood forced the festival to move the parade.

Of course, that doesn't include the past two years, which were canceled because of the pandemic.

This year, the Grand Floral will start inside the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, organizers said.

It will then east on Weidler, south on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The parade will then go east on Lloyd Boulevard traveling along the northern edge of the Banfield, and eventually end at the Lloyd Center for the first time in decades.

The changes to the Starlight Parade are not as dramatic.

The parade will start one hour earlier than usual, beginning at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 p.m.

It wil start on southbound Naito by the Morrison Bridge and head up Salmon, before turning north on Fourth Avenue. Usually the parade marches in the opposite direction of traffic. This year, it will march with traffic, Jarvis said.

It will then cross over Burnside and go west a few blocks before turning south on Broadway, It will continue to Taylor before turning on 14th Avenue and ending by Lincoln High School.

The festival is adding a special kickoff concert with the Oregon Symphony on May 26 at 6 p.m. at Waterfront Park.

The festival officially kicks off the next day..