Grand Floral Parade winds through Portland’s eastside: ‘It just makes me so joyful to see it’

On Saturday, Debra Meier, her significant other Lauren Wagner, their miniature silky chicken named Chica and a couple thousand Portland-area parade enthusiasts ventured to the city’s central eastside to watch the Portland Rose Festival’s 2023 Grand Floral Parade.

Meier loves adventure and serving her community, so she often looks for places where those interests intersect.

Meier said volunteering for the Rose Festival was one of those opportunities, so she and Wagner spent the week building parade floats before serving as guides along the Grand Floral Parade’s route.

“She volunteered me; she kind of does that a lot,” Wagner said as he chuckled. “It’s good for me though, it gets me out of the house and gets me to get out of myself and help others.”

Meier had 3-month-old Chica tag along too because she thought the chicken would enjoy the parade. With Chica slung under her arm, Meier began to get emotional as the first couple floats made their way past the intersection of Northeast Lloyd Boulevard and 9th Avenue, where the couple served as parade guides, answering questions from people watching the parade.

“I worked on that one,” Meier said, pointing to an Alaskan Airlines float featuring a towering Mariner Moose wearing tropical swimwear. “Brings tears to my eyes, it just makes me so joyful to see it.”

Alongside the usual floats featuring larger-than-life characters made entirely of natural materials, the community and high-school marching bands and sailors stopping by for Fleet Week, this year’s Grand Floral Parade featured more than a dozen World War II era Rosie the Riveters who served as the grand marshals. The women, all between the ages of 94 and 101, rode on a float adorned with red roses and a 20 foot tall silhouette of their iconic namesake.

Caroline Kilgore, 96, said she started building parts for airplanes at a factory in Rockford, Illinois, when she was 17 years old. She said she wanted to help with the war effort in any way she could.

“It was a factory full of women,” Kilgore said. “We’d send the parts to Oklahoma where the planes were assembled by a factory full of women just like us, and then the pilots who took them to their destination were all women, too.”

Kilgore made the trek from her home in Sun City, Arizona, not only to serve as a grand marshal, but to be among fellow riveters at the annual American Rosie the Riveter Association Convention, which was hosted in Portland for the first time this month.

Kilgore said serving as a grand marshal was an incredible honor, and that she was grateful to do so alongside fellow Rosie’s from around the country.

“My arm is numb from all the waving,” Kilgore said.

Portland residents Chris Rockne and his wife Portia Hall Rockne attended the parade with their 3-year-old twin son and daughter. Hall Rockne said she grew up in Portland and that it’s nice to see the tradition carry on even though the Grand Floral Parade has changed a lot since she was a child.

This year marked the second time the Grand Floral Parade featured a shortened route that stayed on the eastside of the Willamette River. The parade returned in 2022 after being canceled for two years due to the pandemic. Organizers and city officials say the eastside-only route is expected to stay for the foreseeable future.

Rockne said the route made it easier for his family to get to the parade and see his favorite part, the marching bands.

“I used to be in the marching band in high school and I’ve told the kids so now they get excited to see them, too,” he said.

“We love being here,” Rockne said. “It’s a great event for the kids and the family. We even lucked out with the weather this year.”

Those who missed the parade can still view some of the all-floral floats at the Grand Floral Float Showcase on Southwest Naito Parkway until 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

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