Neighbors out for a stroll with their dogs were startled to see thousands of milk cartons – all of them empty – being delivered to the Sellwood Community House, on Tuesday morning, March 25.

But before there can be boats made of milk cartons in the summer races on the Casting Pond in Westmoreland Park, there must be milk cartons – and although contestants can drink milk and use their own cartons, they don’t have to, courtesy of the generosity of the sponsoring dairy.

“The Royal Rosarian Milk Carton Boat Races’ presenting sponsor, Alpenrose Dairy, has provided 7,000 empty, but sealed, milk cartons for watercraft builders to use to construct their boats,” explained the popular event’s organizer, herself a member of the Royal Rosarians, Connie Shipley. The Royal Rosarians took over the management of the event in 2016.

For those unaware, the Royal Rosarian Milk Carton Boat Races, Inner Southeast’s only Rose Festival event and the official “grand finale” of the 2025 Portland Rose Festival, will this year be taking place on Sunday, June 22nd, starting at 11:45 a.m. in Westmoreland Park.

“Boats, handmade from recycled milk cartons and jugs, will be raced by both children and adults in a number of events, which makes for an exciting day,” Shipley explained.

“While they last, each boat is eligible to get up to two bags – about 100 – of these empty cartons to build their boat,” said Shipley. “We are looking for fifty boats to be on the water this year!”

A goodly supply of these empty milk cartons were staged at the Sellwood Community House; others were distributed to three Les Schwab Tire Centers, including the one in Sellwood, at S.E. McLoughlin Boulevard just north of the Tacoma Street Overpass.

The event is free to watch, and free to enter; but to participate, you must register in advance. To find the 2025 Application, Waiver, Flyer, and the Rules and Regulations, as well as some useful “Build a Boat” instructions, go online to – http://royalrosarians.com/page/2025-milk-carton-boat-race.

They, and we, will see you at the Royal Rosarian Milk Carton Boat Races at the Westmoreland Park Casting Pond in June!