Rhododendron Festival Parade

Posted Mon, 2010-05-17 22:45 by Emily Caryl

In Port Townsend, we have an entire summer full of festivals.  We have a Wooden Boat Festival, Fiddle Tunes, a film festival, jazz and blues festivals, and The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race.  But the festival that kicks off the entire festival season is the Rhododendron Festival.

We celebrate Rhody Fest with an entire weekend full of events.  There is a pet parade, a kiddie parade, bed races (yes, bed races), a carnival, and a road race.  We elect a Queen and Princesses.  And every Rhody Saturday we hold a grand parade.

I've been told the Rhody Parade is the longest parade in the state of Washington.  The entire thing usually lasts at least two hours.  Spectators place lawn chairs on the curb days in advance.  I've never actually seen the parade because I'm always participating in it.  But I can tell you that every year, we line up in our assigned order with the rest of the parade participants, and stand there for at least an hour before it's our turn to move.

This year, I handed my camera to Julianne at the beginning of the parade.  And took some pictures myself afterwards.  Here are the stunning results.

As always, if you see any pictures to which you object (of yourself), please give me a shout and I'll remove them immediately.

Enjoy!

Yours truly, looking fresh and invigorated before the parade.

Her Majesty, the reigning Rose Hips Kween.

Yeh.  No.  You're nowhere near as hot as I am.

Thank you for serving.

I'm pretty sure this is the Sequim High School Marching Band.  Unless anyone knows of another town ending in 'quim.'  Anyone?

This gal definitely needs to lay off the pastries at Sweet Laurette's.

What parade is complete without pirates?!

Post parade.  Looking slightly tired and very thirsty.

You should have seen his shoes.

Leather.  Tall.  Firefighter.  Did I mention leather?  Excuse me while I go faint.

Parade?  What parade?!

Another festival?!  Do these people ever stop?  I think I'm getting a headache.  Sigh.

This is my new friend, Bo.  And guess what?  He was born near here.  And I was born here!  That's like 250 miles away from each other.  In Mississippi.  How cool is that?

And the best thing?  The most awesome thing of all?  Bo still has a Mississippi accent.  When Bo was talking about parades and the state of the economy, I was hearing iced sweet tea, front porches, red clay, and catfish.  Sadly, I lost track of him before the afternoon was over.  If anyone knows Bo, could you ask him to call me?  I promise not to stalk him.  Seriously.  I'm completely harmless.  You can ask my therapist friends.

Have you done something different with your hair?

Hey, how does a guy get a drink around here?

We were also honored by a performance from Tacoma's Clan Gordon Pipe Band.  Their web site seems to be down at the moment but maybe it will be back up and running by the time you read this.  These guys are awesome!  They entertain us every year.  Oh, and some of them carry big knives.  Just saying.

This guy appears to have done something different with his hair in between the first and second sets.  I dunno.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  What do you think?

Set 1 & Set 2

Before & After 

Sober'ish & Perhaps Not Sober'ish

Bear with me...  It's almost over...

She was pushed!  I swear!

The one artistic photo.  Didn't want you to get bored with all these portraits.

Thanks, stranger, for letting me crawl around on the floor underneath your feet while I was taking pictures of the pipe band.

The first Dogs-a-Foot hot dog of the season.  Woo-hoo!

I'm not sure if this is a result of the harsh windstorms we frequently get here in Port Townsend or a testament to the amount of sin committed during Rhody Weekend.  Either way, I think we should take up a community collection to purchase a new cross for the steeple of The First Presbyterian Church.

That's all, folks!  Anyone else have photos or stories to share?  Feel free to contact me or post your comments below.

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