Rose Festival crowns 2025 Queen of Rosaria

Sunshine bathed Oregon Square in Northeast Portland on Friday morning as a crowd gathered for the crowning of 2025’s Queen of Rosaria.

Fifteen

Rose Festival

princesses — all community-minded teens who have at least 3.0 grade point averages — walked one by one down a bright red carpet in the Lloyd District park, accompanied by Royal Rosarians.

Lincoln High School senior Ava Rathi was crowned the 2025 Rose Festival queen in a coronation ceremony held Friday morning at Oregon Square park in Northeast Portland. June 6, 2025

Beth Nakamura

“Lead with your heart,”

Kobi Flowers, the 2024 Queen of Rosaria

, told the princesses and other onlookers. “You are a part of something truly, truly special.”

Rose Festival President Jeremy Emerson then announced Ava Rathi, a 2025 graduate of Lincoln High School, as the next Queen of Rosaria.

Rathi, 17, will attend Trinity College Dublin in Ireland to study political science, philosophy and economics. While at Lincoln, she worked with the nonprofit Mission:Citizen, which offers tutoring for future U.S. citizens seeking to pass the naturalization exam.

Lincoln High School senior Ava Rathi was crowned the 2025 Rose Festival queen in a coronation ceremony held Friday morning at Oregon Square park in Northeast Portland. June 6, 2025

Beth Nakamura

Watching one of her students become a U.S. citizen spurred her passion for community service, she said.

“Seeing that, watching that was one of the best moments,” Rathi said.

— Quinton Prudhomme is a reporter on the public safety and breaking news team. Reach him at 503-221-8002 or

qprudhomme@oregonian.com

.

Oregon weather

Portland is about to feel the burn as temperatures soar to 96 degrees this weekend

Bill Oram: Seriously, who is going to beat the Beavers?
Heat rolls in, with highs in 90s over weekend, early next week: Portland metro weather
Portland warms back into the 80s Thursday. Hot weather expected on the weekend