Rose Festival Stories

My mother, Bernice Lukazewski, rode on the Polish community float in the 1930 Rose Festival. She was a pretty girl of about 21 years old.



She won the ticket sales contest and got to ride on the float from the Polish community in North Portland, centered around St. Stanislaus Catholic Church.


The float picture shows a girl below her in native costume.

Mother was born in 1908 in a house on Skidmore Street in North Portland. She married in 1932 and died in 1979. Her husband, my father, was Harold Lindsay, a Portland small business owner (with partner, CJ Lindsay).

~Kathy Lindsay Fritz

I remember going to the river with my family when I was really small, maybe three or four, and there was kind of an electric light parade on the water. We were on the east bank, and I can remember my aunt saying that she could see the queen's ring from there.

Later, I was a police officer assigned to the Grand Floral Parade. That was good, because you could move around and everyone was having fun. We used to carry a little vial of ammonia, so if someone fainted we could give them a whiff and bring them around.

Then I was a reporter from Channel 2, and I interviewed people along the route -- talking to families and little kids with sticky fingers.

When I was a City Commissioner, I rode in the Starlight Parade in an antique firetruck. At the time I was also a Royal Rosarian, the only member of the City Council who was one.


[Dick Bogle is a local news and political celebrity, who is currently a music reviewer for The Skanner newspaper and a jazz DeeJay for KMHD-FM radio.]

~Dick Bogle

I remember a special bond was generated between the Court members in such a short period of time. We were surrounded by wonderful people.

I have fond memories of our fun-filled trips, luncheons and the Grand Floral Parade.

I learned an enormous appreciation for the hundreds of behind-the-scenes people who made the Rose Festival a success.

~Mary Lee (Sievers) Nielsen (1962 Princess, Roosevelt high school)

What a thrill it was when the Royal Rosarians in their white suits would arrive at our Multnomah Hotel base to escort us to each new and exciting adventure! We were truly experiencing the royal treatment.


We never left the hotel without fresh roses. To this day, my memories of the 1951 Rose Festival are vivid. My grandchildren help keep these memories alive, as they look through my pictures and memorabilia.

~Jackie (Alfson) Hennessy (1951 Princess, Cleveland high school)

The Buffalo Soldiers Moses Williams Chapter was one of those entries that African Americans and veterans looked to as their own. In 2005, there was a big to-do when the Rose Festival Association denied our entry because of what they called 'saftey concerns' from our last appearance (in 2003).

Thanks to media coverage and a lot of upset veterans and black folks, the association worked it out with us less than three days before the parade. It was somewhat tense, even on the day of the parade. They were watching us, big time. I pulled one of our three horses, because he was a little excited. I went on foot along side them.

The people in the crowd were just great. I saw more black folks than I've ever seen. Some of them said, "We don't come to the Rose Festival, but because of you I'm here."


I saw black folks in the crowd with their kids -- you should have seen their eyes, they were so big. It was the horses and the uniforms.

Some older vets shook my hand and said, "God bless you, young man."

~Bruce Broussard, 68 (President of the Buffalo Soldiers)

I'd like to share the story of Alida Hansen, a sweet lady who was born Alida Florence Swensson in Portland on June 7, 1907. She passed away in Portland on January 12, 2005, at the age of 97.

A homemaker, Alida moved to Los Angeles in 1921, and married Alvin Hansen in 1939. He passed away in 1976, and at the invitation of her niece, Beverly McCallister, Alida returned to Portland in 1981.

Alida's niece Beverly was a member of a business women's organization called Alpha Iota Sorority (www.alphaiota.org), and April 11, 1991, Alida became a member of the Portland Alumnae Chapter at the age of 83.

Alida attended the chapter's meetings and social events regularly. She served as Chaplain and Marshal of Portland Alumnae, and was on the telephone committee for many years. When asked why Alpha Iota was an important part of her life, Alida replied, "It is so important to exchange experiences and catch up on each other's daily life."

Alida was the most upbeat, positive person you would ever want to know -- and I think that was a big reason why she lived to be almost 98. She had a solid memory of the many things that happened in her life, including the 14 (or so) years she lived in Portland as a young girl.

Alida would talk about things like the influenza epidemic, the lighting of the street lamps and the fact she was rarely ever sick. She said that by putting Vaseline just inside her nose, she never got a cold. When she spoke about the old days, she mentioned her visits to the Oregon coast. She'd ride a boat to Astoria, and the stagecoach to Seaside.

Alida was very proud of the fact that she was born in the first month of the first ever Portland Festival. I've often thought it would have been so wonderful for Alida if she could have reached her 100th birthday and been honored by the Rose Festival Association during their centennial celebration -- maybe even have been asked to ride on a float.

You couldn't help but love Alida when you were around her. Up until she was about 90, she still drove her own car and was a member of a bowling league. A fall and broken shoulder put a crimp in her style, but she always kept a positive outlook on life and valued her friends and family.

Alida lived independently in a duplex next door to her niece Beverly in Southeast Portland just off Powell Boulevard until the last couple years of her life. Then she moved into a retirement community on Holgate Boulevard.

She was a very caring person. When four of us visited her the week after Christmas, she gave us one last precious gift from her heart -- and we knew it was very important for her to give it. She wished all her sorority friends -- and everyone -- a healthy and very Happy New Year! It was the last time many of us saw her.

Her niece Beverly McCallister passed away at the age of 70 on April 27, 2004. Beverly's two daughters Jeannine Lester and Connie Moore live in the Portland area (Alida's great nieces).


This is a picture of Alida taken May 15, 2004 -- at our sorority Mother-Daughter Luncheon held at Suzanne's at Beaumont Village. The woman beside Alida is her great niece Connie Moore, Jeannine's sister.

~Susie Horton (Advisor and Secretary, Portland Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Iota Sorority)

My husband and I met on the day of the Grand Floral Parade in 1971.

L. Gary Ferlisi was the General Sales Manager of KATU, Channel 2.

Ms. Sheila Graham was invited to Portland to do the color for the broadcast of the Rose Parade. Following her broadcast, Ms. Graham was introduced to the Women Media Buyers of Portland at a cocktail party held at the Benson Hotel.

I was a Media Buyer for a local advertising agency, so I was invited to the party. It was a lovely party, and during it I met L. Gary Ferlisi, which turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful life. He asked me out on a date, and in May of 1972 we were married.

L. Gary was also a Royal Rosarian and became the Prime Minister in 1985. As one of his first duties as the new Prime Minister he took a group of 50 Rosarians and their wives to Guadalajara, Portland's new sister city.


While there he presided over the first knighting ceremony ever done outside North America.

Accordingly, the Rose Festival and the Royal Rosarians have a very special spot in my heart!

L. Gary Ferlisi died in August of 2001 after a very full and happy life. He was always proud to have served as Prime Minister of the Royal Roasrians.

~Janis A. Ferlisi (Royal Rosarians First Lady, 1985)

I work for my family at Day Music Company, and this past January I replaced my uncle as company President. This is a huge change in my life, considering I'm a guitar player -- and Day Music is an 84-year-old piano store! How thankful I am that my family believes in me!

I'm the fifth generation working for the company -- and my son will be the sixth if he chooses to follow me. But what troubled me at first was that I didn't really know my roots. I didn't know where this family -- and our family music store -- came from. My grandfather died when I was in high school, and it was his grandfather who started the company -- so I had my work cut out for me!

I started to dig -- literally -- right in the Day Music's basement. My digging paid off when I found a wealth of historical Day family pictures, newspaper clippings, and more.

I was amazed to find how involved the Day family has been with the Rose Festival organization. I discovered that in 1917 L. Carroll Day wrote the official Rose Festival song entitled, "Flower-Gowned, Forrest-Bound, Rose-Crowned Portland." Eight years later he wrote, "When You Come to Oregon" -- in 1925 this was one of the songs used in the 'learn a song a day' campaign, conducted in connection with the Rose Festival.

Here's a photo of Great Grandfather, L.Carrol Day with the Day Music float in 1925:


These were just a few of the prizes I uncovered. There are still more that include learning that in 1959 my Grandfather -- Carroll 'Dick' Day -- had become a Royal Rosarian. I even found his Rosarian wicker hat, official acceptance letter of his appointment, and some priceless photos of him accepting this honor. Here's one of those:


After organizing my findings, I went to my Aunt Dora Graham. She's Dick Day's sister -- and the eldest living Day. She was also a Rose Festival Princess representing Franklin high school back in 1939.


It's been a real treat getting to know my Aunt Dora (Dora Mae Day) and her husband, my Uncle Larry. They've helped me find my past -- and are a constant source of optimism. When I showed her all I'd found, Aunt Dora was ecstatic! We currently have the entire collection on display in the lobby of our newly remodeled auditorium.

~Nathan Day (President, Day Music Company)

Back in 1961, there was a contest held by Farmers Insurance and "The Reporter" newspaper. That year the Rose Festival theme was "I wish I were..." The contest was for young girls who wished they could be Rose Festival Princesses.

There was over 1,100 entries -- and I was one of the twelve picked as a finalist.

We had a day of questions and the winners were chosen. I wasn't one of the winners, but I felt like a winner to get that far in the contest. We were given special seats for the parade, and since then the Rose Festival has always been a very special time in my life and the lives of my family.

We're among those who go and set up chairs along the curb -- then the night before one of my daughters goes and saves the spots for us.

Now I'm taking my grandchildren to the parades, no mater what their age.

~Barbara Killian (Salem, Oregon)

A Dee Jay at the K103 Radio station gave me information on contacting Rose Festival with this memory.

My husband and I first met during the Rose Festival when he was serving on the U.S.S. Berkeley.

Come June 11, 2007, it will be 16 years since that first meeting -- and will also be our 14th wedding anniversary.

Here's the remarkable way we met...

I was working in an office on the eighth floor of a building in downtown Portland. I saw my future husband in the Marriot Hotel, which is across from the building I work in. We managed to catch each other's attention.

The next thing I knew I was writing my name and phone number on a piece of cardboard. The rest is history. Love stories do happen!

~Vina Carpenter

Ever since I can remember, my father took my little brother Ryan and me to the Rose Festival's Grand Floral Parade. For me, the most exciting thing to see besides all the horses and floats, was hopping on the side rail of my Grandma and Grandpa Woolf's antique car when they drove it in the parade for many years.

My grandparents drove around all kinds of dignitaries -- Royal Rosarians, former Miss Oregons and the like.

I actually even got to be in the parade for the last 2 blocks, because I'd stand on the rail of my Grandparent's 1915 Overland.

At age 29, I rode in that same car to my wedding.

I've always taken my daughter to the parade, and this year I am taking my second daughter for the first time. I was so sad when the Grand Floral Parade no longer wanted the antique cars to be a part of this magical day for the City of Portland. [For the Centennial Grand Floral Parade, a record number of vintage and antique cars made appearances.]

Thank you for the memories.

~Carmen Woolf Kaczmarczyk (Beaverton, Oregon)

In times past, the Rose Festival Princess selection in the high schools was an honor and a time of celebration. [Each school would have a Rose Festival court, comprised of students who were competing to become the Princess representative.]


This photo shows two of the members (including me) and their escorts from the Franklin high school Rose Festival court of 1954.

The affair was held in the bowl of Franklin high school. Court members were in gowns and escorts in white dinner jackets. At Franklin we were paraded around the bowl in new 1954 Ford convertibles.

~Janet K. (Goodrich) Hastings

When I was a little girl I really wanted to be a majorette, so my mom signed me up with the Oregon Journal Juniors Majorettes.

We all practiced for months to prepare for the Junior Parade. It must have been close to fifty years ago! Our costumes were adorable, all special made including white boots with tassels.

We had clear ponchos in case it rained and it did. We all had real batons and when the music started suddenly we were Majorettes, marching in the Rose Festival's Junior Parade!

What a thrill!


It was such an honor and is a great memory. I think I trained and marched for at least three years. I still have one of my costumes packed away somewhere, and I beam all over thinking how lucky I was to have a mom who made me into a majorette -- even if only for a few years.

The memory will last for a lifetime!

Happy One Hundred years to Rose Festival.

Gloria (Lohman) Hammer (Lake Oswego, Oregon)

It was 1954. Queen Jan Markstaller reigned and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were Grand Marshals of the Grand Floral Parade. I graduated from Jefferson high school that year and rode my beautiful chestnut mare 'Palatine Co-ed' in the parade.

What a memory!

I wore a pale blue western outfit, trimmed in pale pink lace that had been custom made for a beautiful rodeo queen from Portland -- and an earlier Jefferson graduate -- Beverly Owens.

We both kept our horses at the Columbia Hunt Club on Hayden Island, where there were 2500 acres of riding trails, an indoor arena and a pack of foxhounds, used for the occasional fox hunt.

~Phyllis Caine Moretz

In the early 1970's, Mom would load my brother and I in the stroller and
head downtown for the Grand Floral Parade.

One year a float lost its steering and almost hit me. It was very exciting! Mom is an unofficial Royal Rosarian, always reminding us of how great Portland is. She always wanted to live in Portland since she was a little girl in Ontario, Oregon. Once she got here, she never wanted to live anywhere else. We have scoured the counties together looking for the Rose Medallion and learned more trivia in the process. Mom's a walking example of the 'Pride of Portland.'

~Jolene Hustead

"'Love is ...' a little word that is easy to spell..." -- so began my speech as I tried out for Junior Rose Festival Princess. It was 1972, and as an eight-year-old I didn't fully comprehend what my Grandmother and Aunt were getting me into. Together they wrote my simple speech, with 'Love is' as the main topic -- as that was the Rose Festival theme that year.

I sat with 117 other girls in the auditorium of Roosevelt high school on March 28, 1972. We'd go on stage holding paper plates with numbers printed on them and answer various questions.

After whittling the girls down to six, we were finally asked to give our speeches and answer some impromptu questions, such as 'Who would you invite to dinner, and why?'

Simple enough, right? Well, yes! Until that moment when I realized I was the last girl standing on stage -- frozen in the spotlight -- grasping my white paper plate.

I glanced to my left to get reassurance from the girl next to me and realized she had been escorted off the stage. So I did what any normal eight-year-old would do -- I kicked up my heels and ran off the stage!

Later my mom told me she knew I'd lost, but that was okay. But she didn't know that the judges felt this was exactly what any normal little girl would do, too. When they announced my name as the winner, no one was more surprised than me! So began my memorable journey as a member of the 1972 Rose Festival Junior Court.

Seven other girls were named Junior Princesses throughout the city. When we all met our 'sisterhood' was immediate.

We attended photo shoots, meetings with Women Leagues and appearances at banks.

Finally there was the Junior Queen selection at Grant high school. I gave the same speech as before, but this time while wearing a custom-made princess dress and doing a curtsey that we'd all carefully practiced for weeks.

I waved at my grandmother from the stage -- and even winked at my mom. Once again Mom thought I probably wouldn't win, due to both my waving and winking. But when my name was announced as Queen, I decided they really liked little girls to act naturally -- to wave, wink and run off stages!

I'll never forget that night or the headline the next morning: "She’s 9 on Wednesday!"


What a birthday gift! The whirlwind continued with more appearances, a David Cassidy concert were we even got to meet him, lunch with Bob Hazen (President of the Benjamin Franklin Bank), and being in both the Junior Parade and Grand Floral Parade.

One memory that's vivid in my mind is walking through a mall one day, turning the corner and seeing my picture on the cover of the Sunday Oregonian -- they gave our court a lot of press! It was pretty surreal for a nine-year-old.

I'll always treasure these recollections. My children all get a kick out of my many scrapbooks from that summer -- and seeing Mom in a crown and gown.


It's fun to get these scrapbooks out thirty-five years later and relish in the memories of the best summer of my life –- the 1972 Rose Festival!

~Julie (Sinovic) Herbert (1972 Junior Queen)

The Rose Festival has always been an important part of our family. My Mother took part in the Grand Floral Parade as a baton twirler for Newberg high school in the 1950's, and we always attended events during the festival.

In 1988, I was a Rose Festival Hostess and attended various Navy dances. There I met Arthur Lamarche, a Petty Office on the USS Chandler, during the Blue Jacket Ball. It changed my whole life! I moved to San Diego and we got married. For the next 15 years we traveled around the country as he completed his Navy career.

We moved back to Oregon in July of 2003, and now take our daughter to Rose Festival events every year.

The Rose Festival will always be part of our family. We have great memories!

~LeAnn Lamarche

I was honored to be born to Edwin George Hesse and Geraldine Thompson Hesse at Emanuel Hospital in beautiful Portland, Oregon on July 27, 1943. I later became a Rose Festival Golf Ambassador.

When I was five years old I rode my tricycle in the Junior Parade, representing Woodbury's and Company, and decorated by company employees. My father worked for Woodbury and Company of Portland, Oregon for nearly 50 years!

When I was eitht or nine years old, I was a baton twirler in the Rose Festival for Kellogg grade school. I still have pictures of the baton twirlers and the tricycle somewhere among all my photos.

My Mother took part during Rose Festival marching with The DAR (Daughter of The American Revolutions) in the Grand Floral Parade.

Then we moved to Beaverton, Oregon and my Beaverton Job's Daughters group decorated floats every year from 1956 through 1961. My father, Edwin George Hesse (a WW II veteran) is still living, 94 years young! He's now in Tucson, Arizona. He used to own and run the Hesse Farms in Beaverton, Oregon. My Mother is buried at Riverview Abbey with all the wonderful old Portland, Oregon families.

I loved the Grand Floral Parade then and still do, even though I now live in Las Vegas. At present I'm up on the Longbeach Peninsula for a couple of months. I married Kenneth C. Strait, Sr., a World War II veteran who fought with General Patton and used to march in many parades.

Congratulations! 100 years, WOW! Thanks to the Rose Festival for these memories. God bless you all with continued success and a wonderful parade. We will be trying to attend this one.

~Beverly (Bev) Ann Strait (Hesse-Locke-Kostelnock-McCallister-Strait), former Golf Ambassador

I was a Flower Girl to the Junior Rose Festival Princess back in 1950, when I was 3 1/2 years old. There were two of us Flower Girls with Escorts, boys who were our same age.

I still have a picture of us bowing to the Junior Prince and Junior Princess that appeared in The Oregonian. It showed our little hoop skirts flipped up during our bows.

My Mother always said my bow was much prettier than the other little girl -- I was proud of that!

~Jeanne (Zugman) Hanson (Tigard, Oregon)

I was born and raised in Portland, so the Rose Festival has always been a part of my life -- and later a part of the life of my family, too.

Like so many others, we had our favorite spot on Grand Avenue each year for viewing the Grand Floral Parade. We lived on the East side, and would usually walk down to our spot. After the parade, my two cousins and I would go home and set up wagons, bicycles, tricycles, draping them with blankets, flowers and any other decoration we could muster. Then we'd ride parade-style around the block, waving our best elbow-elbow-wrist-wrist waves!

In 1948 when I was eight years old, I was selected to represent Buckman Elementary as their candidate for Junior Princess. Our family didn't have much money, but I remember my auntie buying me the most beautiful ruffled party dress I ever owned!

I was quite shy in those days, and I was so surprised that the little girl who won wore a very ordinary blue dress! I learned then it was about personality -- and not about ruffles!

When I was a young mother, my children would participate in the Junior Parade. One year my daughter rode a float, while my four-year-old son dressed in his clown outfit from Halloween and pulled a homemade 'cage' behind his decorated big wheel that housed a teddy bear. It had a sign that read, 'Dear Mom and Dad -- I've left home and joined the circus.' He won an honorable mention -- and his Dad had sunburned 'grid' marks on his feet as his reward for walking alongside him.

Later in 1985, my youngest daughter was in the final ten for our district for Junior Princess -- a wonderful experience for her.

Now we find a spot downtown and take our grandchildren to view the Grand Floral Parade -- and still enjoy it as much as ever!

We're looking forward to this 100th anniversary and are so proud that the
tradition continues.

~Dona Jennison (Clackamas, Oregon)