So, I don’t think we were supposed to take photos.
But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to sneak a few behind the scenes images at the huge east side warehouse where a couple dozen Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade floats are being decorated.
While mostly assembled by professional builders, the volunteer crews come in during the final days before the parade to finish up the details. No simple task, that means covering every single piece of construction, with flowers, leaves, seeds and other natural elements, including wheat husks and shredded coconut, white and tinted.
Exceptional floral designers, those people with true skills, were tapped to prep the flowers. They trimmed the stems and placed the blooms buckets of fertilized water, assuring they would stay fresh as possible for until the Saturday event. Anna Bowman, of
StudioFlowersPdx.com, is an exceptional floral designer also an active volunteer with The Bloom Project. Bloom is a local non-profit group that repurposes retail flowers each week that are then delivered to hospice patients around the city. Ann was entrusted to create significant floral arrangements. With her exceptional skills, the float she worked on went on to earn a Rose Festivals Director’s Award.
Others of us were supplied with sponges, brushes and glue, essentially “mod-podging” seeds on surfaces. A lesser but still important contribution!
Happy to have had the experience, a small but necessary contribution to this wonderful, civic celebration.