Eastmoreland resident, and Portlands Mayor, Charlie Hales greeted neighbors as he walked along the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade route this year.

Those who have been involved with it over the years say it’s hard for them to believe that they were already hosting the tenth annual 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, as they rallied the entries on the morning of Saturday, April 30. It is the first event each year of the Portland Rose Festival, and it takes place in Inner Southeast Portland.

In the Eastport Plaza parking lots, at S.E. Holgate Boulevard and 82nd, entries for the parade began to gather. Some groups set about decorating vehicles and others were donning costumes. Drill teams stretched, and bands warmed up, for the two-mile march through Southeast Portland.

A core group of about a dozen volunteers start working on the parade effort as early as September each year, revealed organizer Dianne Gill, Eastport Plaza’s Manager.

“Today, we have more than 100 volunteers helping in various ways to stage the parade, and assist along the route,” Gill said.

The tenth annual parade featured 78 entries this year, plus about a thousand walkers, and 120 floats or vehicles.

“It’s an amazing accomplishment for the business association, the neighbors, and all the volunteers, to have this parade take place for 10 years,” Gill remarked. “I believe that this area has embraced the idea, and now looks forward to and embraces the parade.”

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales was on hand, smiling merrily as he walked in the parade and greeted those along the route.

“What brings me out here is simply that this is a great community event,” Hales told THE BEE. “It’s clear that residents and businesses along 82nd Avenue of Roses care a lot about the area.

“What I like best is how this event brings us together as one community,” Hales reflected. “We’re now so diverse a city; you walk along the street and you see people from 25 different countries in just a few blocks. This is the ‘new Portland’; it’s about everyone coming together as one community.”

After the parade, Gill told THE BEE that volunteers embedded in the parade counted the spectators along the route; and they estimated about 9,000 people came out to see and enjoy the colorful procession.

“What’s best for me is that this helps with the revitalization of Southeast Portland,” Gill said. “Everyone puts out a good effort to create this wonderful springtime Rose Festival event.”