[caption id="attachment_5581" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Starlight parade float"]
[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Portland, Oregon --“I love a parade” speaks to how wonder-filled parades are for adults and children alike, and no more is that made visible than the Starlight Parade, a major event during Rose Festival Season in Portland, Oregon that takes place every June.
In any language, around the world, the announcement of a parade simply to extol pride in one’s place produces crowds that respond to the magic of believing, with the floats, marching bands and colorful displays reinforcing that belief.
So it was in Portland, on a warm and wonderful night. Portland folks had longed for rain respite, and here it was at a time and place when the best face of this cosmopolitan town was produced once more for all the world to see. Rose Festival, an annual event, brings people from many places around the world to enjoy what has become the very definition of a Portland great occasion. The two parades that dominate the series of events, including parties, dances, coronations and carnivals and other frivolous fun foster crowds that return again and again every year to see how well-turned out that Portland foot becomes.
[caption id="attachment_5502" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Red Cross marchers in Portland parade"]
[/caption]The Starlight Parade captures the kind of wonder folks can have in a fun-filled event like a parade and the childlike shock and awe from special sights and sounds that make them very special. It was on this weekend's balmy Saturday night, the gentle air that sweeps across the crowd with the purity of Portland, the smell of flowering trees and blossoms everywhere, united with the lights and displays of floats and wove their way along the downtown boulevards.
Political discussions melt in the simple joy of a parade along with economic worries, social fears and disasters' poignant memories that impact all of us in almost every place, except those designed to foment trouble for aggressive gain. A parade that tells us how we can join hands again, like children walk together, speaks once again of why love of a parade remains part of song and social life in cities like Portland on a summer’s Saturday night.
[caption id="attachment_5503" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Portland Rose Society Float"]
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