Downtown Portland welcomes the Grand Floral Parade’s return

The Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade may be more than a century old,

but it’s still embracing change

.

On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, it will wind through downtown Portland, returning to the city’s core after a three-year, post-pandemic hiatus that kept the annual parade east of the Willamette River.

READ MORE:

See the Grand Floral Parade route

.

The new route weaves past landmarks such as Pioneer Courthouse Square, beginning at Tom McCall Waterfront Park and ending at Providence Park.

Celebrating under the theme of “All Together Now!,” the parade will feature floats big and small, marching bands, horses, drill teams, vintage vehicles, dancers, llamas and

Queen of Rosaria Ava Rathi

, a 2025 graduate of Lincoln High School.

Also during the parade,

one winning couple is scheduled to marry

. The ceremony, which will take place along the route near Salmon Street Springs just after 10 a.m., will be broadcast live by Portland’s Fox 12 along with the rest of the parade.

And, of course,

this year’s grand marshal is Tula-Tu

, the baby elephant born at the Oregon Zoo in February. (Spoiler alert: Tula-Tu won’t actually march in the parade; instead sponsor Alaska Airlines will honor the precious pachyderm on its float.)

“Tula-Tu may be small now,” Oregon Zoo Director Heidi Rahn told reporters last month, “but she represents something incredibly big: Hope, connection, and the future of wildlife conservation.”

Streets through the downtown core, and west toward Goose Hollow, will close as early as 7 a.m. on Saturday to accommodate the parade’s thousands of expected spectators. Getting to the parade — or around it — may be difficult. Organizers urge people to leave their houses with plenty of travel time.

Parking will be sparse, too, so TriMet suggests taking the bus or MAX. Both will be running on normal Saturday schedules.

Anyone who misses the parade has a second chance to see the floats up close. They’ll be lined up along Southwest Naito Parkway on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, adjacent to the Rose Festival CityFair. And there’s no cost to see them.

For more information, visit

https://www.rosefestival.org

.

—Kimberly Cortez covers breaking news, public safety and more for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at


kcortez@oregonian.com


.

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