Portland, OR. After a two-year absence from their Waterfront Park offices, Rose Festival officials, including Rose Festival CEO Jeff Curtis, are opening up their boarded-up offices on SW Natio Parkway.
The windows looking out on Waterfront park have been covered since March 2020.
Rose Festival staff members have been splitting time between working from home and working out of the office since the pandemic closed up downtown Portland in 2020, but with the Festival on track for a full return this spring, staff members are eager to get the team back together planning a ‘Rose City Reunion’ with three big parades and CityFair at Waterfront Park.
The Rose Festival Court is also complete with the Princesses for 2022. The Court was announced between February 28 and March 18.
Official say, “Congratulations to these fifteen outstanding young women, who will represent their schools at the 2022 Rose Festival and during their community outreach leading up to it. Each Princess has earned a $3,500 scholarship, thanks to the generosity of The Randall Group. A special thanks goes out to the Royal Rosarian Foundation for their support of Court outreach.”
You can Learn more about the Princesses by checking out their bios and speeches here. This year, there were a mix of in-person announcements and live stream announcements on the Rose Festival’s YouTube Channel. You can still view the video recordings of the live stream announcements here.
Portland, OR. Lilianna “Lili” Rosebrook from Valley Catholic High School was crowned the 2021 Rose Festival Queen on June 18th. Deanna Connell, Lili’s mom, represented St. Mary’s Academy on the 1989 Rose Festival Court and was chosen that year’s queen.
Lili poses with her family including her mother, 1989 Rose Festiva Queen Deanna Connell, in navy blue. When asked on her Court application to name her favorite place to visit in Portland, Lili Rosebrook mentioned the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park, where she and her family would visit her mother’s signature plaque on the Queen’s Walk.
Lilianna “Lili” Rosebrook learns she has been honored with the crown.
2021 Queen’s Coronation returns to Washington Park Amphitheater and the International Rose Test Garden. Hosted by the Royal Rosarians, the Pageantry of Rosaria included: The Annual Honorary Knighting Ceremony, the Queen’s Coronation, the Queen’s Plaque Laying Ceremony and the Queen’s Garden Party.
Respecting current conditions, the Princesses families, and Rose Festival and Rosarian members had plenty of space in the arena to safely participate in the open-air ceremonies.
Queen Lili would like to pursue a degree in chemical engineering and then go on to medical school. She is a member of the National Honor Society and an AP Scholar who loves running, cooking, singing and dancing with her team. Lili showcased her language skills during her official Court introduction and spoke fondly of cooking traditional Cuban dishes with her grandmother.
Inspired by her dad Philip Rosebrook, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, Lili has volunteered as a fundraiser the National Multiple Sclerosis Society where she was honored with the “Bright Star of the Year” award in 2018 after raising $25,000 through the Bike MS campaign. “The National MS Society has had a profound impact on my life,” says Lili.
The Rose Festival Queen serves for a full year and will represent Rose Festival at special events and appearances throughout the year. The Rose Festival Court program awards a $3,500 scholarships to each Princess, generously provided by The Randall Group. The program promotes community outreach and volunteerism and perpetuates an appreciation for Rose Festival history and tradition. Court members are offered networking opportunities through the Unitus Community Credit Union mentorship program, which assigns a female executive mentor to each young woman. Queen Lili’s Unitus Community Credit Union Mentor is Megan Snyder, Assistant Vice President of Loan Operations.
From Rose Festival:
The Portland Rose Festival Foundation is grateful for the vital financial support provided by our five Premier Sponsors: Spirit Mountain Casino, Alaska Airlines, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Fred Meyer, and Portland General Electric.
A special presentation of the 2021 Queen’s Coronation will be broadcast on FOX 12 Oregon and FOX12+, on Sunday, June 20, at 4:00 p.m.
The Portland Rose Festival Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that serves families and individuals with programs and events that promote the arts, education and volunteerism. We value environmental responsibility, diversity, patriotism and our historic & floral heritage.
Portland, OR. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Hope Reigns’ and organizers are encouraging local businesses to decorate their buildings and storefronts. It’s the second year with modified activities. In 2020 some aspects of the festival were similar to the past, like the crowning of Queen Anya Anand seen above, but organizers explain, “Oregon isn’t quite ready yet for big outdoor events, and the health and safety of our community is still our top priority. The Rose Festival has been here for more than a century despite many challenges and will be here when Oregon is ready for big outdoor events again as we start down the runway to the traditional Rose Festival in 2022.”
Click here for a link to a festival website event list. Programming like the Court and Porch Parade will continue this May & June 2021. This year, with Portland businesses hit especially hard from the pandemic and social unrest, the Festival is reaching back to the time when all of Portland turned out with Rose Festival-themed floral decorations. Businesses are once again being encouraged to decorate a front door, window or even building face. The Portland Rose Festival will produce an online map with the locations, so the public can walk, bike, or drive around, and share in the celebration.
The Rose Festival Porch Parade celebration runs from May 31 through June 13, 2021. (Registration is now open at this website on the Porch Parade page.) The Rose Festival Porch Parade celebration runs from May 31 through June 13, 2021. (Registration is now open at this website on the Porch Parade page.)
The Rose Festival’s Parading in Place concept wasn’t only popular in Portland, festivals across the country picked up the idea in: San Antonio, Detroit, New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama, and Washington D.C. to name just a few.
Themes for the 2021 Rose Festival Porch Parade honoring the Rose Festival’s three traditional parades include The Grand Floral, the Starlight, and the Junior parades. Porch designers are encouraged to pull out their seasonal Christmas lights and create a multi-themed concept with a Grand Floral Parade or Junior Parade in daylight hours, and a Starlight Parade theme by night. Porch Parade designers are not limited to Rose Festival themes and are encouraged to create their own family-friendly fun ideas to share with the greater Festival community.
In 2020, the Porch Parade encouraged people to decorate outside their homes.
Last year, dignitaries formed a procession to tour selected homes.
From The Rose Festival:
The Portland Rose Festival Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that serves families and individuals with programs and events that promote the arts, education and volunteerism. We value environmental responsibility, diversity, patriotism and our historic & floral heritage.
Portland, OR. The Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association (PKSCA) board has canceled the 2021 Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race season. Following the Covid-19 guidelines issued by Oregon Health Authority that large outdoor gathering activity is still not recommended under the current pandemic risk level assessment for the Portland Metro area. (The Dragon Boat Eye Dotting Ceremony seen above usually takes place on the last Saturday of March.)
“We are very hopeful that the risk of pandemic will be greatly improved with increasing level of vaccination coverage and continue observing the safety guidelines from the Health Authority,” says Chi-Chao Chen – President, PKSCA. “We are looking forward to a strong comeback of the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race season in 2022.”
In lieu of the Dragon Boat Eye Dotting Ceremony, PKSCA held a social distanced presentation, along with its key sponsor, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle.
Dignitaries from the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle presented the Portland Rose Festival and Royal Rosarians with 80 personal pandemic care packs and 1,000 medical-grade masks.
The purpose of their visit was to donate 80 personal pandemic care packs and 1,000 medical-grade masks to the Portland Rose Festival Foundation and the Royal Rosarians. Members of the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association wanted to show their continuous support to the Portland Rose Festival event and the local community during the pandemic.
In the past, 80 teams have competed in the Dragon Boat Races (including local, national, and international teams) with heats of four teams competing every nine minutes. These races are held on the Willamette River (near the Hawthorne Bridge), in boats provided through the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association.
Popular programming like the Court and Porch Parade will continue this May & June, 2021. However, organizers say “Oregon isn’t quite ready yet for big outdoor events, and the health and safety of our community is still our top priority. The Rose Festival has been here for more than a century despite many challenges, and will be here when Oregon is ready for big outdoor events again as we start down the runway to the traditional Rose Festival in 2022.”
From the Rose Festival:
The Portland Rose Festival has inspired the public to gather and celebrate against a backdrop of historic external forces for the past 114 years. Hope Reigns as the 2021 Rose Festival demonstrates how our community can carry on traditions, honor diversity and celebrate unity. Although our streets will not be lined with friends and neighbors watching traditional events such as Grand Floral Parade, Starlight Parade, or Junior Parade, and Waterfront Park won’t be pulsating with carnival rides, concerts and corn dogs, Portlanders will continue to celebrate our floral heritage and community spirit by actively participating in the 2021 Porch Parade & Roses for Hope, and awaiting the ‘crowning moment’ of the new Rose Festival Queen.
Although Oregon is not quite ready for the return of big events in 2021, the Rose Festival is ready, and will be here to bring hope and joy this spring and summer, as we head down the runway to 2022!
Who:
Chi-Chao Chen – President, PKSCA
James Stahl – Treasurer, PKSCA
Daniel KC Chen – Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle
Hsiao-Chu Wu – Director, Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Seattle
David Todd – President, Portland Rose Festival Foundation
Jeff Curtis – CEO, Portland Rose Festival Foundation
Korrie Hoeckendorf – Prime Minister, Royal Rosarians
Dwight Terry – Lord High Chancellor, Royal Rosarians
Portland, OR. Lincoln High school senior Anya Anand was elected 2020 Queen of Rosaria on July 30th, Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a special, socially-distanced Queen’s Coronation was held at the Queen’s Walk in the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park.
Traditionally, the Queen’s Coronation is an event that gathers a large ensemble of community volunteers who determine the year’s Queen; however, under this year’s unique circumstances, in the interest of keeping the event small, the Rose Festival had the Rose Princess’s vote to elect one of their peers to the Queendom—making it the just second time in the Rose Festival’s 112-year history that the Court elected their own Queen.
Asked what it was like to be the first Queen elected by the court since 1930, Anand said, “It’s an incredible experience […] it just means a lot that so many of my fellow Rose Court sisters believe in me so much and gave me the honor of being Queen.”
As Queen, Anand is awarded a college scholarship provided by the Randall Group. Anand plans to attend the University of California at Davis to study psychology; from there, she plans to attend medical school to become a pediatrician. According to a press release, “[Anand] was very active at Lincoln: as a volunteer Co-President of the Associated Student Body and Asian Student Union, as well as Co-Chair of the Multnomah Youth Commission Committee. [Anand] has been passionate about education from an early age and is president of REAL (or Rural Education and Literacy), in India.”
Many who attended the event socially distanced themselves and wore masks, including the Princess’s and the Royal Rosarians, who wore intricate red masks as a part of their traditional Rose Festival garb.
Rose Princesses at the Queen’s Walk in the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park.
Speaking of some of the differences of this year’s Rose Festival, Anand said, “First of all, I know half of the Princesses didn’t get their in-person announcement. Some of them were announced over Zoom, and we all met for the first time over Zoom.”
Anand said meeting the other Princesses in person for the first time was her favorite moments of the season so far, ”It was such a different experience to meet them in person because you could feel all of the energy—and you can feel it over Zoom, but it’s a totally different feeling when you’re all together: you’re all looking at each other’s outfits, dressing up, getting ready together. I love all of these women with my entire heart.”
Many at the event spoke of the inspirational resilience of this year’s Court, and commended their fortitude in the face of many obstacles that made this year’s Rose Festival one of the most unique in its extensive history.
“The inspiration that is this Court and Queen Mya [2019 Rose Festival Queen] is a lesson to us all,” said Royal Rosarian Prime Minister Kimberly Brown, “their optimism and resilience and attitude has been so mature. It’s been inspiring to watch them overcome those hurdles that came up.”
At the laying of the Queen’s plaque along the Queen’s Walk, Anand had each of the Rose Princesses press their thumbs into the cement surrounding the plaque, a tradition started by 2019’s Queen Mya Brazile.
2020 Rose Festival Queen Anya Anand and Royal Rosarian Prime Minister Kimberly Brown getting ready to lay the Queen’s plaque along the Queen’s Walk.
“Just like Queen Mya did last year, I would like to invite my Rose sisters to place their thumbs in my plaque, because we did this together,” Anand said, “this year has been very tough, but we all made it together, and I love you all and I would love to share this moment with all of you.”
In the end, despite the hurdles of the pandemic, the official Rose Festival crown—worn by every Queen since 1922—was ceremoniously placed upon Anand’s head.
“I’m looking forward to representing my city and the Rose Festival,” Anand said, “I think it’s really important, especially because the Rose Festival has been around for so many years, and it’s another way to instill that tradition and sense of normalcy in such a changing and evolving time.”
About the Rose Festival Court:
“The mission of the Rose Festival Court program presented by Unitus Community Credit Union, is to provide scholarships courtesy The Randall Group for higher education, to promote community outreach and volunteerism, and to offer networking and mentoring opportunities to outstanding young women in a program that perpetuates an appreciation for Rose Festival history and tradition.”
About the Rose Festival:
Part of Portland’s popular culture for more than a century, the Rose Festival has its roots in tradition while its programming is both contemporary and nostalgic. Foresighted city leaders started the festival during the first decade of the 20th Century in order to put Portland on the map and brand it the ‘summer capital of the world.’ Little did they know that more than a hundred summers later the Rose Festival would be world famous for its amazing, award-winning events, as well as serving as a community leader for celebrating values like volunteerism, patriotism and environmentalism. In 2010, the Rose Festival was finally acknowledged as Portland’s Official Festival by proclamation of the Council.
With dozens of events spotlighting the diverse interests and culture of the community, the Rose Festival makes a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of lives annually, bringing smiles to the faces of both locals and guests. Peruse this website to learn more about the festival’s three popular parades, its three-weekend urban fair packed with great entertainment, good food and fantastic features, and about the iconic Court made up of local high school women making goodwill visits all around the state. The Rose Festival makes Portland a better place to live and visit.
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