Photos: All the colors, characters, floats and flowers come out for Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade

Published 4:16 pm Saturday, June 7, 2025

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The Alaska Airlines Float featuring Grand Marshal Tula-Tu — a model of the big Oregon Zoo elephant — makes the turn onto Southwest 4th Avenue during the Grand Floral Parade in Portland. (Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune)

The Rose Festival‘s marquee event, Grand Floral Parade, took place under beautiful skies Saturday with thousands of people attending and the parade going through the new downtown Portland route.

Portland Tribune photographer Jaime Valdez was there to document it with great photos.

After three years of being on the eastside of Portland, which came after a two-year COVID-19 pandemic hiatus for the big event, the Grand Floral Parade returned to downtown with the new route starting on Southwest Naito Parkway and finishing at Southwest 14th Avenue and Taylor Street.

All of the iconic parade elements remained, including floral floats, marching bands, equestrian units and community organizations.

Meanwhile, after a busy Saturday and Saturday night, including the visit by sailors from U.S. Navy and other ships in port, there’ll be more things going on Sunday:

CityFair, Waterfront Park, noon-9 p.m.
CityFair Ukulele Jam, Waterfront Park
Dragon Boat Race, Willamette River in front of Waterfront Park, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Grand Floral Float Showcase, Southwest Naito Parkway (next to CityFair), all day

Then, Fleet Week ships depart on Monday and we all plan for the 2026 Portland Rose Festival.

More: rosefestival.org.