From the Jewels . . To the Crown . . .

...To the Fancy Gown!

The Grand Floral Parade is the centerpiece of the Portland Rose Festival and the second largest all-floral parade in the United States. More than 500,000 spectators line the parade route.
As long as I can remember, my mom would take us to see the Grand Floral Parade each year, and I loved it ... the excitement, the anticipation and looking down the street, asking, "Is it coming yet? Can you see it?"

But honestly… what I was really waiting to see was the Rose Festival Princesses.

You see, every year (since 1930), girls from Portland high schools were chosen to be princesses and form the Royal Rosarian Court. The princesses would ride on their parade float looking so beautiful. Their tiara's would sparkle and I was in awe.

For years I dreamed of being a princess. What Portland girl didn’t? My friends and I spent years practicing our best elbow-elbow-wrist-wrist princess waves.

And so, when I finally turned 17 and could try out to be a princess, I found out I was pregnant with Hannah. I was crushed.

And then it Happened...

Shortly there after, we decided that we were going to be the “unofficial” princesses of the Rose Festival. We dressed up in our finest dresses, purchased tiaras and sat along the parade route waving to everyone with our elbow-elbow-wrist-wrist princess waves.

What started as a family tradition, quickly grew into an annual event for my family, my friends and even my mom’s co-workers! We have had as many as 40 princesses in our group at one time.

Our 2006 group of Princesses

Each year our dresses change... sometimes we wear wigs to liven things up... but one thing that NEVER changes is that we all wear Swarovski rhinestone encrusted tiara's.

A Princess can never have too much bling.

Hannah, Myself and Suzi

My brother, Travis, and Jenny Oh, the princess attitude comes out...
As the “unofficial” princesses of Rose Festival, we have quite the following. We have been on the front page of The Oregonian several times and have had multiple TV interviews. We are quite the site to see.

As “unofficial” princesses, we have met many people from all over the world who walk by and ask what we were doing and who we are. Just try to imagine the looks on their faces when they find out we are just normal people who decided that every girl has a princess inside her who is dying to get out. Yes, we get lots of laughs, but many, many folks have sat down with us or come back the following year dressed up and ready to join us.

The crowd surrounds us...

These little girls came up to have their pictures taken with Princess Suzi...

This random stranger in his Tuxedo wanted to be our prince charming...

Sometimes we're nice and even let King Travis join us...

It is just such a cool tradition. Something that make me proud and proud of my family. Even Hannah (the baby I had when I was 17 and subsequently placed for adoption) and her mom, Debbie, have taken to our Rose Festival tradition. I’ve watched Hannah go from a middle schooler who feigned embarrassment at dressing up, to a high schooler who is inviting all her friends to be a part of the family fun. I imagine before long she’ll be coming home from college for the parade and introducing her boyfriend to our annual Rose Festival group. And soon we’ll have Suzi’s new baby girl to add to our princess list.

Suzi (my sister), Hannah (my birthdaugther), Me, and Ganny (my mom)

My mom and Hannah's mom enjoying a moment of bonding...

We have seldom missed a parade. In 35 years I have only missed 2 parades. And in her 62 years, my mom has only missed a handful more!

We plan to keep our tradition going strong and bringing the joy of being a princess to girls of all ages.

Do you have a princess inside of you?