Portland Rose Festival

Disneyland opened in July 1955, and the 1956 Rose Festival theme was Disneyland in Flowers. Special programming included the Disneyland Circus and A Night of Disneyland, featuring Bob Amsberry and the Mouseketeers from the Mickey Mouse Club. Jimmie Dodd, the “Big Mouseketeer,” was the honorary grand marshal of the Grand Floral Parade. For 35¢, festivalgoers could purchase the official program and have a spot to collect Dodd’s autograph. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

Rain and snow disrupted a few Rose Festival events in 1956. For the boat races on the Willamette River, people huddled under blankets and umbrellas. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrgLot431,B7F6.)

When the Rose Festival Court visited Mount Hood, plastic covers, hats, and mittens were needed as snow fell from noon on. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrgLot431,B7,F6.)

In 1957, the US Navy Blue Angels appeared as a special feature of the Marine Day activities. Marine Day featured waterskiing demonstrations, outboard races, and a floral-decorated parade of pleasure craft. Years later, the Blue Angels would return to the Rose Festival as the headliner for the first Rose Festival Airshow in 1988. (Courtesy of the US Navy.)

As had been the practice since the construction of Multnomah Stadium in 1926, floats gathered on the floor of the stadium prior to the 1957 Grand Floral Parade. This was one of the final years the stadium would be used to stage the parade, as the Veterans Memorial Coliseum was under construction and would become the home of the parade by 1961. A sudden wave of warm weather quickly ripened the local strawberry crop. The governor urged schools to take steps to give the students free time to pick the strawberries. As calls for pickers went unheeded, growers sought recruits from Portland’s homeless. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

The Golden Anniversary of the Rose Festival occurred in 1958, and the eight-day event lasted from Sunday, June 8, through Sunday, June 15. Mill Ends Park, located at Naito Parkway and Southwest Taylor Street, was called the smallest park in the world. Junior Queen Pat Adams and Junior Prime Minister Pat Casey dedicated the rose planted there on June 8. They were greeted by a rare daylight appearance of Patrick O’Toole, head leprechaun of the park. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHibb002374.)

In 1958, the festival’s Fun Center was held in the South Park blocks and occupied 13 park blocks south of Salmon Street. The nighttime parade, the Merrykhana Parade, was held on Wednesday, June 11. Fred Meyer stores offered rosebushes in full bloom for $1.49. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHi67097.)

In February 1959, Oregon marked its centennial as a state. To commemorate the event, the Rose Festival theme was “Century in Flowers.” Many floats in the Grand Floral Parade on Saturday, June 13 had a birthday or anniversary design, and volunteers worked toward the goal of pinning buttons on 100,000 people in Portland and surrounding communities. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

This gigantic, three-section Meier & Frank Company float won the Mayor’s Trophy in 1959 in the Grand Floral Parade. There was a driver for each section of the 75-foot-long floral entry depicting the Oregon State Capitol. More than 70,000 Esther Read daisies adorned the structure. The statue of the pioneer on top was decorated in gold, like the original in Salem. Two Meier & Frank employees, Julie Hunter and Sandra Hogan, rode the award-winning float. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHi67122.)

In 1960, for their annual visit to the Shriners Hospital for Children, Junior Queen Patricia Bentley and Junior Prime Minister Craig Evan marched past a group of youngsters on Sunday, June 5. Queen Patricia also knighted 14 Portlanders at the annual junior knighting ceremony. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHi83701.)

Alpenrose Dairy was always an attraction for youngsters during the annual Rose Festival. Children were allowed to mingle with small animals. For years, the Lil’ Briches Rodeo was held at the dairy, so-named because the word “britches” would not fit on the belt buckle given to the winners. For the Grand Floral Parade, Richard Boone, better known as “Paladin,” was grand marshal, and glamorous actress Jane Mansfield arrived in Portland for the Rose Festival activities. On the day before the Grand Floral Parade, record albums were selling for 66¢ at Meier & Frank Company’s Friday Surprise. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

The 1961 Merrykhana Parade was moved a week early to accommodate an expanded Rose Festival schedule. The Clan Macleay Bagpipe Band, led by drum major Don Byrnes, marched along the two-mile route. No rain fell on this parade, but another festival event at the Lincoln High School stadium did get wet. Canadian sailors and Portland firemen competed for the International Championship in “Beer Barrel Polo” with their fire hoses. The Canadians doused the Portland team in a match that lasted three hours. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHi54518.)

The city of Battle Ground, Washington, had a beautiful entry in the 1961 Grand Floral Parade, featuring “Aladdin and His Magic Lamp.” Beginning their participation in 1955, Battle Ground continues to offer the longest-running, community-built entry in the parade to this day. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

Linda Fuqua, the 1961 queen, and her court are pictured as their float, sponsored by the chamber of commerce, crossed the Burnside Bridge. Grand Marshal Lorne Green of television’s Bonanza rode his palomino horse in the parade, following the tradition of many Western stars in the 1950s. The year 1961 marked the first that the parade passed through the Veterans Memorial Coliseum; the doors were built at either end of the arena for that very accommodation. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

The Farmers Insurance float in the 1962 Grand Floral Parade was staged in the Exhibition Hall of Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Riding the float was Joan Matthews of Leucadia, California, the niece of Carrie Lee Chamberlain, the first Rose Festival queen. Chamberlain was incorrectly identified as having served as the 1907 queen, when in reality she was “Queen Flora” in the 1908 Rose Festival. Barbara Miselli drove the daisy-covered float. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society File1915.)

The Royal Rosarians celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 1962. Rose Festival president William R. Moore presented Prime Minister Ernest J. Burrows a new banner to commemorate the occasion. The banner was used by Rosarian marching units during the festival as well as during visits to other cities. (Courtesy of the Oregonian.)

On Sunday, June 9, 1963, it was planting time for the Junior Court at Peninsula Park. From left to right are Queen Shannon and Junior Prime Minister William Childers. Other princesses and princes are Kathleen Ann Kissner, Scott Othus, Nancy Hellervik, John Brune, Daphne Holman, William David Todd, Patti Fontana, Prince Gordon James Patterson, Connie Sue Ross, Thomas John Miles, Michele Rolph, Shephen Weber, Shauna Newbrey, and James Edward Barton. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrHi83707.)

The grand marshal of the 1963 Grand Floral Parade was Terry Baker from Oregon State University, the only football player from Oregon to receive the Heisman Trophy. On Monday, June 17, the US Supreme Court ruled eight to one that the use of the Lord’s Prayer and Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional. (Courtesy Portland Rose Festival Foundation.)

More than 12,000 people jammed Veterans Memorial Coliseum Monday night, June 8, 1964, for the queen’s Coronation. After each princess had been given the spotlight individually for her five-minute speech, all members of the Royal Court returned to a revolving stage at the center of the arena. The stage was notoriously jerky, and court members often struggled to keep their balance. (Courtesy of the Oregonian.)

Queen Sharon Arneson and her court enjoyed the warm sun on Mount Hood for the annual Golden Rose Ski Classic in 1964. Singer and movie star Pat Boone arrived at the Portland International Airport on June 10 for shows in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Years later, Boone would return to the Rose Festival as the grand marshal of the Grand Floral Parade. (Courtesy Oregon Historical Society; OrgLot431,B11,F11.)