[caption id="attachment_5770" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="We are the world: Rose Festival (Forsloff photo)"]
[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Portland, Oregon’s highly regarded Rose Festival again brought acclaim among its citizens for proving once more how the town’s cosmopolitan, going green behavior reflects the best dimensions of the world.
Rose Festival extends from Memorial Day through early June, nearly two weeks of fun-filled activities that culminate in a parade of beauty and a statement from the town of its social and political culture.
[caption id="attachment_5772" align="alignright" width="300" caption="PGE's "tree float" in Rose Festival parade"]
[/caption]That statement varies from the Western part of Oregon to its Eastern sections, from liberal to conservative, but the parade, like the Starlight parade held the weekend before the Rose Festival one, reveals the coming together of the state’s attitudes towards an open-minded, open-hearted way of looking at the world.
Nowhere else is Portland’s attitude better reflected than a parade that brings together every racial, religious and national group that makes the town an uptown capital of America’s movement toward the ecumenical in many special ways. While in states like Alabama and Arizona, immigration laws might seem to say “we don’t want you anymore,” Portland proclaims instead, “You’re part of us and make us what we are.” That’s not to say that Oregon accepts illegal immigration with grins and look-asides but it speaks to its acceptance that the world is changing fast and building walls might not be the better way.
The Rose Festival parade brought out that Portland best, with floats and floral fantasies that wove through downtown streets. The crowds had gathered mid-morning under gray-cast skies, not knowing if the day would bring some sunshine after all. But just as sure as Portland’s unpredictable manners, the sun broke out in sharp, warm beams that lightened up the day. The rest of the light came from the mood that one could almost feel while standing and a gazing at the lovely crowd. The colors of the rainbow that came marching down the street were eclipsed by those who watched the parade of every hue and kind. The Rose Festival Queen Lamarra Haynes, an African American beauty, received enthusiastic applause from an appreciative crowd that seemed unmoved by the single statement that her coronation makes about the town. That statement is for Portland folk color and social prominence in parades or politics isn't major news when quality makes sense for folks instead.
[caption id="attachment_5771" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Interracial couple at Rose Festival Parade (Forsloff photo)"]
[/caption]The welcome mat was out from the town that sleeps , unlike a sister city San Francisco down the coast, but rests in naps instead, ever mindful, every ready to assume its place as leader in putting out the best parade around. The world’s parade marched Saturday, with sights and sounds reminding us as Michael Jackson and company once proclaimed, as Portland does each year, we are the world for sure.
