Portland Rose Festival 1989
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Do You Believe In Magic?
Getting Involved Trophy Winning Floats
Float Entry Form Grand Floral Parade Around Oregon
The Portland Rose Festival has played a major role in attracting tourists to the state of Oregon for 81 years —and we’re still counting!
Oregon plays host to the Rose Festival every June attracting national attention and claiming regional recognition as the premier event in the Pacific Northwest.
The Rose Festival is getting bigger and better every year. Civic improvements coupled with an economic impact of $40 million give Oregonians something to cheer about—the Portland Rose Festival. __________________
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1989 Portland Rose Festival Events and Dates
Budweiser Entertainment Center
Friday, June 2-Sunday, June 11; Lloyd Center South Parking Lot. Lloyd Center Rose Festival Queen Coronation Friday, June 2; Civic Auditorium. Pepsi Golden Rose Ski Classic Friday, June 2-Saturday, June 3; Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. KGON Fireworks Spectacular Friday, June 2; Waterfront Park.
Festival Center Friday, June 2-Sunday, June 11; Waterfront Park.
Alaska Airlines Starlight Parade
Saturday, June 3; Downtown Portland.
Skipper’s / KPDX Milk Carton Boat Races
Sunday, June 4; Westmoreland Park.
U.S. and Canadian Navy Ships Wednesday, June 7-Tuesday,June 13; Waterfront Park.
Pacific Power Junior Parade Wednesday, June 7; Hollywood District.
Portland Rose Society Rose Show
Thursday, June 8-Friday, June 9; Lloyd Center Ice Rink.
KXL/Continental Airlines Jazz Band Classic
Thursday, June 8;
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
G.I. Joe’s Rose Cup SCCA Races
Friday, June 9-Sunday, June 11; Portland International Raceway.
Fred Meyer/KEX Festival of Bands
Friday, June 9; Portland Civic Stadium Maxwell House Rose Festival Airshow Saturday, June 10-SundayJune 11; Hillsboro Airport.
Grand Floral Parade Saturdayjune 10; Downtown Portland Oregon Symphony Pops Concert Saturdayjune 10-Sunday,June 11; Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Budweiser/G.I. Joe’s 200 Friday June 16-Sunday, June 18; Portland International Raceway. Willamette Savings Hot Air Balloon Classic
Saturdayjune 16-Sunday,June 17; Sunset High School.
(Corporate sponsors subject to confirmation.)
Portland Rose Festival Association 220 N.W 2nd Ave. Portland, Oregon 97209 (503) 227-2681
One of North America’s Finest Celebrations
Around Oregon
The Portland Rose Festival has played a major role in attracting tourists to the state of Oregon for 81 years —and we’re still counting!
Oregon plays host to the Rose Festival every June attracting national attention and claiming regional recognition as the premier event in the Pacific Northwest.
The Rose Festival is getting bigger and better every year. Civic improvements coupled with an economic impact of $40 million give Oregonians something to cheer about—the Portland Rose Festival.
Design by: Mike Staudinger Cover Photography: Jon Deshler
Dick Powers/Photo Art
< O S E
Grand Floral Parade
The Grand Floral Parade is the largest single-day attraction in the State of Oregon. In 1988, more than 400,000 people lined the streets along the 414-mile parade route. And, millions of television viewers also watched the elaborate floats in the parade.
The floats in the Grand Floral Parade are unique because they must be covered with all-natural materials— flowers, greenery, seeds, etc. No artificial materials are allowed.
TV Coverage
The colorful telecast of the Grand Floral Parade reaches millions of viewers in the Portland area and throughout the West—available to 92% of West Coast television households.
Each float receives approximately one minute of airtime.
Sample ratings from the 1988 broadcast:
Rating/Share Portland—KATU-TV
21/78 (#1 in time period)—267,000 viewers
Portland—KATU-TV
(7 p.m. repeat broadcast)
7/21 (#2 in time period)—89,000
Seattle—KOMO-TV
4/22 (#1 in time period)—49,000
Spokane—KXLY-TV
3/21 (#1 in time period)—11,000
Sacramento—KOVR-TV
4/14 (#3 in time period)—67,000
San Diego—KGTV-TV
1/7 (estimated viewers not available)
Television markets added in 1988 included Honolulu and Boise.
The popular Tempo Cable Network rebroadcast the Grand Floral Parade on a tape delay basis to a potential 32.7 million viewers. And the upbeat VH-1 national cable network broadcast several 30-second and two-minute Grand Floral Parade spots during the network’s special weekend devoted to the Portland Rose Festival. Its potential viewing audience was 60 million.
Letters received from appreciative viewers praise the high quality of entries in the parade, the excellent technical coverage, and the sponsors who present the television broadcast and floats in the parade.
Sponsorship Benefits
Each float sponsor receives the following benefits:
• Approximately one minute of television time on the parade telecast.
• Direct exposure for your float and logo to 400,000 streetside viewers.
• Prominent exposure in the Rose Festival Program, plus Parade guides that are published by The Oregonian newspaper and other publications.
• Support for the community-based Portland Rose Festival Association— nationally recognized for excellent events—named to “Top 25 Events in North America.”
• Build company image and morale— employees take pride in float entries. Company employees may participate in design choice, float decoration and construction.
• Prizes awarded to exceptionally well-designed floats bring additional media exposure and build company morale.
• Participate in one of the Northwest’s biggest parades, and the second-largest all-floral parade in the nation.
• Increase visibility and corporate image to the public.
Participate in Portland’s biggest celebration, and the Rose Festival’s premier event—the Grand Floral Parade.
Contact Bill Gallagher or Dick Clark, Portland Rose Festival Association, 220 N.W Second Ave., Portland, OR 97209, (503) 227-2681.
ROSE
Float Entry Form
81st Annual Grand Floral Parade Saturday June 10,1989 “As If By Magic’
Participants------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------——------------------
Contact---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(NAME AND TITLE OF PERSON IN CHARGE)
Address___________________________
(STREET)
(CITY) (STATE) (ZIP)
Telephone:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The undersigned sponsor and/or contracted float builder agrees to comply with the rules prescribed by the Portland Rose Festival Association as listed on the reverse side, or additional rules that may be deemed necessary for the safe conduct of the Grand Floral Parade and related activities.
In consideration of the acceptance of this application, the sponsor and/or builder agrees to indemnify, hold harmless and defend against any action against the Portland Rose Festival Association from and against all liabilities whatsoever arising out of its participation in the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade and related activities.
Float entry fee: $250.00—Commercial Entries
$100.00—Non-Commercial Entries
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Title____________________________________________
Date---------------------------------------------
Parade Committee Contact-------------------------------------
Themes must be submitted for approval no later than March 3, 1989. Color rendering of float must be submitted no later than April 10,1989. For Official use Only:
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Date Received:_________________________________
Entry Accepted by _—,--------------------------
Portland Rose Festival Rules &
Floats must be entirely covered with natural flowers. ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS ARE PROHIBITED.
Judges will consider artistic arrangements and harmonious blending of natural flowers together with the general artistic effort of the entry Natural flowers, ferns, smilax, brakes, trailing vines, oaks, etc., may be used for decorative purposes, but in competition for prizes FLOWERS OF BEAUTY AND QUALITY appropriately and harmoniously arranged to depict the theme will receive the greatest consideration of the judges.
Because of the narrow streets, width and height of the Memorial Coliseum doors and overhead traffic signals, floats will not exceed 14 feet in height, 15 feet in width and 50 feet in length. Variances for construction of floats exceeding the length limitation must be obtained by the Director in charge of the Grand Floral Parade in writing before proceeding with any work on the float. Accessible tow hitches (both front and rear) are required.
No entry that displays advertising of any trade, mercantile pursuit, article or merchandise or replica thereof, or which is symbolic of an industry, or a business occupation other than the name of the sponsor , shall be allowed in the Grand Floral Parade; lettering of the name of the sponsor must be in flowers, seeds or other natural materials and will be a factor in judging.
All floats will be subject to a maneuverability test no later than one week prior to the parade. The float will be tested by the driver assigned to the float for the parade.
Floats will not be accompanied by persons on foot, either individually or as a unit, as part of the entry without specific permission in writing from the Director in charge of the Grand Floral Parade. Requests are to be submitted with the float entry application.
Floats must be delivered to the Parade Committee on Saturday, June 10, at such time and place as the Director in charge of the parade will advise. Any decision regarding floats will be made by the Director in charge of the Grand Floral Parade once the float has been presented to the judges. Failure to comply with the above rules will eliminate the float from all award competition and possibly from the parade. Rules concerning mechanical liability and safety requirements are strictly enforced.
Decorated bicycles, motorcycles and automobiles are not acceptable as float entries. The use of banners or bunting on floats is prohibited.
Judges will take into consideration the appropriateness of the dress of the participants and their effect in interpreting the theme involved.
Roses, flowers, samples of merchandise, water or other articles ARE PROHIBITED FROM BEING THROWN FROM FLOATS, or by other persons during the parade.
Sufficient visibility must be provided for the float driver or the float may be denied entrance to parade lineup.
Regulations
Any variance from the established regulations of the Grand Floral Parade must be applied for, by the decorator in writing, to the Director in charge of the Grand Floral Parade and may not be considered granted until permission is received. Variances must be secured before April 1.
IMPORTANT RULE: So that the float sponsor may get the full benefit to which the float is entitled through newspaper, television and radio publicity, it is agreed that a full and complete description and rendering of the float to be entered in the parade shall be delivered to the Rose Festival Association not later than April 10, 1989. The Association will have descriptions copied and placed in the hands of all persons handling parade publicity
It is possible that float themes may be duplicated. Therefore, it is desirable that participants report their float themes to the Rose Festival Association office as early as possible. Entries will be filed in order of their receipt and will have theme preference in that order.
All themes, designs and construction are subject to the approval of the Grand Floral Parade Committee. Entries of political or social causes will not be accepted. Any entry deemed objectionable by the Grand Floral Parade Committee will be rejected.
Entries of all bands, drum corps or uniformed bodies are by invitation only A separate entry blank, with rules and regulations, is available through the Portland Rose Festival Association.
Trophy Winning Floats
From the 1988 Grand Floral Parade
Sweepstakes
Anheuser Busch—Most outstanding float in the parade.
Grand Prize
Willamette Savings and Loan—Most outstanding commercial entry
Queen’s Trophy
University of Portland—Most outstanding noncommercial entry
Theme Trophy
Hanna Car Wash—Best development of parade theme.
Rose Society Trophy
Clark College—Most effective use of roses in float description.
Governor’s Trophy
Benjamin Franklin—Most outstanding entry from outside Portland.
Leith Abbott Award
Steinfeld Products—Float displaying the best use of humor
Judges Trophy
Pasadena Tournament of Roses—Exceptional merit in the non-commercial class.
Silver Rose Award
Seattle Seafair—Most outstanding non-commercial float under 35 feet in length.
Clayton Hannon Award
Fiesta Bowl—Most outstanding non-commercial float from a civic event or festival.
Grand Marshal’s Trophy
Fanners Insurance—Exceptional merit in the commercial class.
Mayor’s Trophy
U.S. National Bank—Most outstanding commercial entry from Portland.
President’s Trophy
Blue Cross/Blue Shield—Most outstanding commercial entry from the Portland Metropolitan area.
Royal Rosarian Trophy
US West/Racific Northwest Bell—Outstanding use of flowers by a commercial entry
Golden Rose Award
62 KGW/Trailblazers—Most outstanding commercial float under 35 feet in length.
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Professional Float Builders
American Decorating
Dick Hubbard 716 N. Mckeever Ave. EO. Box 67 Azusa, CA 91702 (818) 969-9716
C.E. Bent & Son Don Bent
835 South Raymond Pasadena, CA 91105 (818) 793-3174
Huserik Manufacturing
Dick Huserik 13435 Whitaker Way Portland, OR 97230 (503) 252-9811
Erv Lind Florist
Eric Sundholm 1543 Lloyd Center Portland, OR 97232 (503)281-1181
R and L Designs
Rod Lewison EO. Box 132 Royal City, WA 99357 (509) 346-2390
Studio Concepts Gene Dent EO. Box 1622 Portland, OR 97207 (503) 284-5367
Fleming Productions
Mark Fleming 5775 N.E. Garfield Portland, OR 97211 (503) 289-4962
Columbia Creations Bill Burbach EO. Box 02763 Portland, OR 97202 (503) 238-1562
DC Arts
Dennis Midyett 1514 Lahaina St.
West Covina, CA 91792 (818) 810-2493
Photo’s by Duane Morris for Studio Concepts
Getting Involved
Portland Rose Festival sponsorships are essential to providing a solid financial foundation for one of North America’s great civic celebrations. As a non-profit enterprise, we look to our sponsors as partners in providing Portland with a showcase series of events for the enjoyment of our citizens.
The Portland Rose Festival also affords this region an excellent opportunity to promote tourism. For the 1989 Rose Festival, we are offering an exciting array of sponsorship options which are affordable and effective. The greater your involvement with the Festival—the greater your visibility will be. Please consider a Rose Festival sponsorship as you develop your marketing and positioning strategies.
Title Sponsorships
The Portland Rose Festival Association is the market leader in producing public events which provide impact and image. You can enhance your corporate stature as principal sponsor of such an event. Current corporate title sponsors include Budweiser, Maxwell House, Alaska Airlines, G.L Joe’s, Pepsi Cola, Coors, Pacific Power, Lloyd Center, Fred Meyer and Willamette Savings and Loan.
Your corporation could be the one to sponsor the centerpiece of the Portland Rose Festival—the Grand Floral Parade. Viewed in person by 400,000 people and on television by millions more, the Grand Floral Parade provides a valuable setting with unique reach and impact. (See insert for further details on this very special sponsorship opportunity)
Float Sponsorships
The Grand Floral Parade’s international reputation has been earned because of the exacting standards set for its all-floral floats. The Rose Festival Association can make available a commercial sponsorship of one of these
floats, which will be seen by those 400,000 parade spectators and the television viewing audience.
A float can also be sponsored in the Alaska Airlines Starlight Parade, which is viewed in person by 125,000 spectators and is broadcast live on KGW-TV
Supporting Sponsorships
There are many opportunities to affiliate your product or service with the Portland Rose Festival through supporting sponsorships of various events. Our Association staff would be glad to work with you to find the event involvement most compatible with your marketing objectives. As a Supporting Sponsor you can count on site signage, participation in advertising campaigns, affiliation with one of the most heavily-covered events in the Northwest and in most cases product exclusivity for on-site sampling and concessions. A Supporting Sponsorship obviously offers tremendous opportunities for visibility and interaction with event spectators and participants.
Venue Sponsorships
This type of sponsorship presents the opportunity to increase awareness of your product or service to an ever-changing audience. The Portland Rose Festival has considerably expanded its geographic reach in recent years and is involving more members of the community every year. Your business identity would be prominently displayed at the performance site, you would be included in print advertising and in certain cases would be allowed exclusive rights for product sampling or sales at the site.
Venue Sponsorships also provides exposure in all printed event literature including programs and brochures.
The appropriate environment can help you target a market for your product or service.
Broadcast and Print Sponsorships
The electronic and print media have expanded the reach of the Portland Rose Festival and provided new opportunities for our sponsors. The telecast of the Grand Floral Parade throughout the Western United States is available for sponsorship (more than one million people watched the parade telecast last year) and has been successfully utilized by Pontiac, Eastman-Kodak, Red Lion Inns and the State of Oregon Tourism Division in the past. On the print, at least three event programs are in the works with rate cards available. We anticipate even more media opportunities as a way of maximizing the marketing value of your Rose Festival sponsorship.
Chalet Sponsorships
Entertaining your clients, customers, employees or friends in a deluxe chalet at a Rose Festival event has become a very popular method of corporate involvement.
We can set you up with a chalet at any number of events from the Bud-weiser-G.I. Joe’s 200 to the Maxwell House Rose Festival Air Show to the Willamette Savings Hot Air Balloon Classic. The benefits are many and the costs minimal in relation to the goodwill you can generate on site at a Rose Festival event.
Team Sponsorships
Some Rose Festival events have individual teams or entries available for sponsorship — including the Pepsi Golden Rose Ski Classsic and the Willamette Savings Hot Air Balloon Classic.
Skiing teams have eight members each and compete in two days of competition on Mount Hood. Celebrities from the U.S. Ski Team as well as local media personalities join in.
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Towering hot air balloons provide a flying billboard for commercial sponsors—providing direct exposure to those attending the event and making an excellent image for advertising and promotion. Hot air balloon sponsorships are exceptionally easy for the sponsor because we handle all the details.
The Rose Festival will find you a balloon, pilot and even tickets, and all you have to do is support your breath taking hot air balloon. (A one-time cost of producing a banner for your company to fly on the balloon is not included.)
Official Products
Your company may be able to take advantage of “Official Product” designations for either the entire Festival or the Auto Racing division. The selection of these items is limited to noncompetitive products. Each agreement is negotiated separately.
Donation of Goods & Services
Since the Rose Festival Association is a civic, non-profit organization, thousands of dollars in materials and services are donated annually. The Rose Festival gives each citizen and business “ownership” of the Festival by making them feel like they are making an important contribution to the success of the entire effort. Inquire about how
your time, talent or product may be used in supporting the Rose Festival.
As you can see, sponsorship opportunities with the Portland Rose Festival Association abound. We are in unique position to provide a marketing vehicle which generates goodwill in the community as well as measurable impact on your consumers. As a Portland Rose Festival Association sponsor, you’ll help assure the future of this grand civic festival for years to come.
To create a sponsorship package which meets your needs and helps you reach your goals, please call our development director, Bill Gallagher, at 227-2681.
Do You Believe In Magic?
More than 1.5 million people do. And, they show it by attending nationally acclaimed Rose Festival events every June in Portland, Oregon.
The Portland Rose Festival is the premier civic celebration in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the finest events in the nation. This year’s theme, ‘As If By Magic,” is very appropriate for the 81st Annual Rose Festival.
The festival, which will run June 2-18, will feature more than 50 exciting events—It’s much more than a parade.
Portland, the “City of Roses,” and its surrounding communities play host to a variety of events. Some of those include the world’s largest children’s parade attracting more than 10,000 participants and four times as many spectators, and the CART Indy races, which entertain more than 100,000 spectators.
The Rose Festival’s showcase event is the Grand Floral Parade. The Grand Floral Parade is the second largest all floral parade in the nation, and draws more than 400,000 people to the heart of Portland.
What is the
Portland Rose Festival?
It’s People
More than 5,000 volunteers and a 100-member volunteer board of directors dedicate thousands of hours to make the Rose Festival one of the top 25 super events in North America.
It’s Community Involvement
Corporations and small businesses join in the celebration of the “City of Roses” to show their support to the largest and oldest civic event in the area.
It’s Media Involvement
The Rose Festival is a newsmaker. The media recognizes the wide scope of community involvement during Festival time. Local newspapers, radio stations and television stations traditionally provide complete advance and post coverage on a daily basis of all Festival events. The Association staff works with local, regional and national media to maximize coverage of the Rose Festival.
It’s Developing the Community
The Portland Rose Festival pumps more than $40 million into the local community through tourism, local retail sales, media sales and facility use.
The Portland Rose Festival Association returns hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community each year in contributions to the Downtown Kiwanis, United Cerebral Palsy, Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce and the city of Portland.
Festival Center — 350,000 people pass through the center over 10 days for carnival rides, music, food and special exhibits.
Grand Floral Parade — 400,000 people line the parade route for a look at the all-floral floats, marching bands and equestrian units.
Budweiser/G.I. Joe’s 200 — 103,000 racing fans witness motorsports of the highest order at this stop on the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series circuit.
Alaska Airlines Starlight Parade —
125,000 fun-seekers line the parade route for this lighted, nighttime attraction.
Lloyd Center/Rose Festival Queen Coronation — 3,000 people pack Civic Auditorium for the crowning of the Queen of Rosaria.
Fred Meyer Festival of Bands — 12,000 fans of marching band music make it to Civic Stadium to see and hear the best bands.
Navy Ship Visitors — 5,000 people per day take the U.S. Navy up on its offer of guided tours.
Pacific Power Junior Parade — 45,000 kids of all ages turn out for the largest children’s parade anywhere. Willamette Savings Hot Air Balloon Classic — 20,000 people watch 50 hot air balloons head up, up and away in this very upscale event.
Maxwell House/Rose Festival Airshow— 125,000 fanciers of flight line the runways at Hillsboro Airport to witness winged wonders.
THE HISTORY OF THE PORTLAND ROSE FESTIVAL
The Portland Rose Festival celebrates its 81st birthday this year with
more than 50 events, most of which are free to the public. The 1989 festival is a full week longer than previous years and is expected to draw another 1.5 million people again this year.
The Portland Rose Festival’s official history dates back to 1907; however, the first rose reached the Northwest 70 years earlier in 1837. Portland’s climate, ideally suited to the growth of roses, spurred local rose enthusiasts to found the Portland Rose Society, the oldest such group in the United States today. The society held the city’s first floral parade on June 10, 1904 in conjunction with its annual rose exhibit. In 1907, Portland’s second floral parade was accompanied by a two-day festival to celebrate the rose—the "Portland Rose Festival and Fiesta."
Following the 1907 festival, a group of 10 businessmen formally organized the Portland Rose Festival into a non-profit civic enterprise to plan and finance the annual event. To raise the $10,000 needed to start the organization, 1,000 shares of capital stock were sold at $10 per share.
In the early festival years, both a queen and king were chosen to reign
over the festival. Starting in 1931, the queen has been a Portland high school senior selected from a court of princesses from each high school. Since the Portland Rose Festival’s legal incorporation in 1932, each court member has received a college scholarship from the association, totalling nearly $400,000 over the years.
A spectacular array of parades remains the star attraction of the Portland Rose Festival. The Grand Floral Parade, the second largest all-floral parade in the country, draws an audience of 350,000 along the parade route and reaches eight to 10 million more viewers via national television broadcast. Oregon’s most popular family event features floats elaborately decorated with live or natural materials, nationally acclaimed marching bands, equestrian units, and the newly chosen Queen of Rosaria and her Royal Court.
Junior Rose Festival events were became an official part of the Portland Rose Festival in 1936. Today the Pacific Power Rose Festival Junior Parade is the largest in the world with more than 10,000 children participating.
Other festival events include a visitation by the Navy ships, which the
public is invited to tour; appearances by the Royal Rosarians, the city’s official greeters; high-speed racing action in the Budweiser/G.I. Joe’s 200 Indy Car Races; the 10-day Festival Center at Waterfront Park; the Alaska Airlines Starlight Parade; and the Pepsi Golden Rose Ski Classic with U.S. Ski Team skiers and celebrities,held at Timberline Lodge. In the air, the festival offers the Maxwell House Rose Festival Airshow, which,in its 1988 debut, was rated the 10th largest such show in the country, and the sixth annual Willamette Savings Hot Air Balloon Classic .featuring more than 40 hot air balloons.
The continually growing and changing Portland Rose Festival has never
ceased to maintain a traditional link with its rich past. It’s that kind of spirit that has kept the Rose Festival fresh and exciting since its small beginnings more than 80 years ago.
TOE STORY OF THE PORTLAND
kOSE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION
The Portland Rose Festival Association is a volunteer, non-profit civic organization composed of business and professional people, labor leaders, homemakers and others. Its purpose is to promote Portland and-the entire region culturally, socially and economically, by presenting an annual 24-day civic festival. There are about 100 members on the board of directors, and a number of honorary directors, including all past presidents.
The Association is entirely self-supporting, deriving most of its income from admission to events and Association membership contributions. Any individual or business may join the Association by paying annual dues — minimum of $50 per individual or $100 per business. This broad-based civic support makes it possible for the Association to present 24 full days of events every year — most of them free to the public. It also provides the $1,100 scholarship awarded to every Princess on the Royal Court.
Association directors may be identified by their navy blue coats, worn at all official functions, with a navy blue shield patch over the left breast pocket and camel colored pants or skirts.
Association directors are both men and women that come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The organization is headed by a president, elected by the entire board each year. Many presidents have had 10 years of experience on the board before being elected to their 1-year term. And, many past presidents continue to take an active part in organizing the Festival.
The various events of the Association are run by committees, chaired by one director. Many of the larger committees have several vice-chairmen, as well. The Association also employs a professional staff of about 9 people who work year-round in helping plan and coordinate Festival events. As soon as one Festival is completed, work begins immediately on the following year.
Some people mistakenly confuse the Rose Festival Association with the Royal Rosarians. They are actually two separate organizations. The Royal Rosarians are the official greeters of the City of Portland and assist at many Rose Festival events. They are highly recognizable in their white suits and boater hats, worn at formal occasions. They also act as greeters for the City throughout the year.
PORTLAND ROSE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION
220 N.W. Second Avenue • Portland, Oregon 97209 • (503)227-2681
Feb. 13, 1989
ROSE FESTIVAL POSITION PAPER
Portland’s oldest and largest civic celebration faces a cloud on the horizon that could be as devastating as rain on the Grand Floral Parade. The uncertainty centers on the city of Portland’s proposal to charge the Rose Festival and other special events for city-provided services. In the discussion to date, the city hasn’t credited the benefits Portland gains from the Festival and the other special events. In taking a one-sided view, the city is threatening a close partnership which earns Portland at least three dollars for every dollar it spends.
Officials from the Rose Festival and other special events who have been meeting for the last several months don’t think that’s fair. In the Rose Festival’s case during the last year, the Portland Rose Festival Association has paid more than $463,000 either directly to the city or to improve city facilities. In 1988, the city also received $297,000 in taxes, license fees, and concessions revenue from Festival activities, according to a recent economic impact study on the Portland Rose Festival.
Add it all up and you get 3/4 million dollars in city payments from the festival association or fees collected by the city at events. But now, the city is asking for additional payments for police, fire and maintenance services up to approximately $250,000 per year.
The association questions why the city needs more money from the Festival. Shouldn't some of the $750,000 paid by the association activities to the city be directed to offset the services costs?
The association has long appreciated the city's partnership in staging the Festival. Over the 81-year heritage of the Festival, the city has provided these services in recognition that its efforts are necessary to earn its license fees, hotel-motel tax and other revenue during the Festival. City employees have been very faithful and supportive of the Festival by placing barricades on streets, providing crowd control or emptying trash containers after Festival events.
However, association officials fear that the city's request for more money will tip the scales adversely for everyone concerned.
The association wants to continue to be partners with the city in its much-publicized goal of promoting tourism and economic development. We support the city's financial contributions and encouragements for other tourism projects such as the Convention Center, the recent International Police Chiefs Association conference and film-making projects and the economic development projects such as granting tax incentives to promote Nabisco's expansion.
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POSITION PAPER - Page 2
The association recognizes that Portland is struggling with serious problems involving a rising crime rate and gang activity. The media proclaims the need for the city to have more money just to maintain status quo. The city’s contribution to the Rose Festival and other special events is the one area where the city actually creates a net return for itself, yet city officials are talking seriously about undermining that financial lifeblood.
The Rose Festival and local special events helped Portland be recognized by Newsweek magazine in early January as one of the top liveable mid-sized U.S. cities. The city should not turn to those viable financial events for a bailout. The association also questions the timing of the city's current payment request, which amounts to a 625 percent increase of proposed city charges to the Festival in 1986, while it is projecting a $2.5 million budget shortfall this year.
A. BENEFITS OF THE ROSE FESTIVAL
1. WE BRING ATTENTION TO PORTLAND
FESTIVE - The word is truly a good description for the Rose Festival. The 1988 Festival offered 55 events over 17 days, and attracted more than 1.5 million people as viewers or participants. Even more events are planned for the 1989 Festival, which will run from June 2 to 25. The thrills and fun of the Festival will range from three parades (including the second largest all-floral parade in the United States) to the nationally televised Indy car race to one of the top 10 airshows in the country to 41 sanctioned events in neighborhoods throughout Portland and the surrounding area.
EXPOSURE - Those people who don't attend events don't miss out on the Rose Festival. The Festival's largest events can be seen on television regionally and, in some cases, nationally.
Naturally, the national broadcast of the Grand Floral Parade is also good for the city of Portland. The vibrant production includes many breakway features showcasing the city and undoubtedly offering an incentive for tourists and businessmen to visit Portland and Oregon.
The association has chosen to pump any net proceeds from the Grand Floral Parade telecast back into buying time in other national markets for the live telecast. Last year, it was presented live in the eight Western United States and tape delayed on the national Tempo cable channel. The city and Festival also gained upbeat promotion from VH1, the televised music hits station, in 1988. VH1 came to town and filmed about 70 of its music breaks using Portland and the Rose Festival as backdrops.
Portland and the Rose Festival and their strong relationship with Sapporo was highlighted on a special national broadcast in Japan during that city's Snow Festival recently. Rose Festival Queen Kelly Manning served as Oregon's official spokesperson, extolling the virtues of the state, the city and the Rose Festival during a five-minute interview on national television in Japan.
POSITION PAPER - Page 3
The local area will gain additional publicity from the first Dragon Boat races in Portland and the national syndication of the Rose Festival Airshow.
2. WE PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OTHERS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THEIR PROGRAMS
FUNDRAISER - The Rose Festival prompts smiles on people’s faces in two ways. The most obvious is from the variety of entertainment offered at the Festival. The other is from the satisfaction that people get from seeing how money earned during the Festival is used year-round to help other projects in the community.
Conservatively speaking, the Festival injected $44 million into the local economy in 1988, according to the study on the Festival. That pot of gold bloomed from the Festival's $3.9 million budget. Almost everyone in the city benefitted from the economic impact in some way.
For example, the Portland Downtown Kiwanis earned $27,000 for its Mount Hood Kiwanis Camp for Handicapped Children; the Portland Light Brigade received $1,000 for adding more color lights to the Morrison Street Bridge lighting system; and the U.S. Ski Team collected $45,000 from revenue at the Pepsi Golden Rose Ski Classic. Many more smaller civic groups earned much-needed cash by selling souvenirs along the parade routes. The economic impact study shows $213,000 was paid by the association to non-profits for services rendered or donations.
3. WE GENERATE IMPROVEMENTS FOR CITY GOVERNMENT
The city of Portland was the biggest winner during the 1988 Rose Festival. The association paid $63,000 to install a permanent power supply at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, spent $309,000 for upgrading the Portland Parks Bureau's Portland International Raceway, and paid $97,000 for use of public facilities such as the Civic Auditorium, the Performing Arts Center and the Memorial Coliseum. The association also pays $10,000 annually to restore and reseed the grass at Waterfront Park.
The city general fund also received between $226,000 in hotel/motel taxes that were generated from rooms rented by Rose Festival visitors and business license fees. The city also gained a financial boost from its percentage of the Festival's concession business, which last year brought in a minimum of $55,000 to the city. This does not include utility taxes, increased parking revenues and other city revenues. All told the city received three quarters of a million dollars of value from its partnership with the Rose Festival.
4. WE ATTRACT TOURISTS
TOURISM - The Rose Festival is not a well kept secret around the world. Portland's civic celebration draws visitors from every corner of the globe. During the festival in 1988, the local hotel/motel industry attributed 35,900 room nights to the celebration, generating $2.6 million in gross revenue to our area hotels.
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Many out-of-town visitors were coming to familiar surroundings. According to a festival-sponsored survey, about 20 percent of the local residents who attended a festival event also entertained an out-of-town guest, who may or may not have stayed at their home.
The association actively works with the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, the Oregon Tourism Alliance and the Oregon Tourism Division to promote tourism for the Festival and the state.
The Rose Festival also coordinates many group tours from its office. The Memorial Coliseum is filled almost exclusively with senior citizen groups who travel to Portland to see the Grand Floral Parade under shelter.
5. WE CREATE STRONG COMMUNITY SPIRIT
INVOLVEMENT - The thought of having 100 members on the Portland Rose Festival Association board of directors can seem like a management nightmare, but not when each of those board members serves on three to five committees. The board members, who represent a wide cross section of the Portland area’s leadership, donate countless hours of time to the civic celebration and are only aided by a relatively small 11-member professional staff.
They must be doing something right because last year 47 percent of the metropolitan area attended a Rose Festival event. That’s more people than vote in most Portland elections.
If the board of directors are the backbone of the celebration, then the estimated 5,000 volunteers who perform a variety of festival duties are the body and soul of the event. The volunteers are everywhere, whether they are decorating floats or carrying flags on the parade routes or cleaning up after horses or helping the association balance its budget books.
One of the most evident examples of the rise of involvement in the Rose Festival is the association’s sanctioned event program. In 1988, a record 35 events sponsored by non-profit and other organizations were sanctioned. That number will be eclipsed this year with 41 events sanctioned to date. The sanctioned event program allows community groups that want to raise some funds and gain some exposure to get under the Rose Festival publicity umbrella. How effective is the program? Just ask the Lloyd Center Optimists Club, which sponsors the Lil’ Britches Rodeo; the Portland Lawn Bowling Club, which holds lawn bowling demonstrations; or the Lombard North Business Association, which is sponsoring its second Family Fair.
6. WE BUILD PRIDE FOR PORTLAND
PRIDE - Last but not least is the pride in the city that the people celebrate during the Rose Festival. Everyone wants to show off their contribution to make Portland one of the most liveable cities in the nation.
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Special events like the Rose Festival provide a vibrant, healthy cultural life in our community. The city of Portland has not been able to cost effectively provide those entertainment offerings. Because of that inability, the city should help special events however possible since they are critically important to the community’s liveability.
Special events in Portland have been recognized by others around the nation. In fact, the American Bus Association, a major national group tour association, has continually ranked the Portland Rose Festival as one of the top 100 events in the United States. As an ABA "Super Event," it joins the ranks of the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Mardi Gras and other national celebrations.
B. CONCERNS OF THE ROSE FESTIVAL
To preserve this historic and famous celebration in the city, we need a full, positive-spirited partnership with city officials. However, we are concerned because:
FRAGILE - In one respect, the Festival is like a piece of particle board in a home's subflooring. On the surface, it appears very solid. However, the particle board and the Festival are highly susceptible to water. Like the dry rot that will begin eating away at wet particle board, a few days of rain during the Festival really softens the association's ability to pay for future Festivals. From the surface, the next year's Festival may appear the same, but the financial vitality of the association will have been severely hurt. If money isn't available to repair the floor, it will collapse. The same is true for the Festival.
The Festival has come close to the edge of a financial crisis in the past. In 1984, the association only netted $3,032; $82,472 in 1985; and $8,200 in 1986. The last two years have been much better because of lack of rain. The association cleared $227,126 in 1987 and about $303,000 in 1988. The earnings from the 1988 Festival only represented an eight percent return on the Festival's $3.9 million budget. In 1979 through 1983 the festival accumulated a net loss of $78,345, with losses in three of those five years.
The association's board of directors wants to use the funds raised during the last two years to develop cash reserve to overcome down years like 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1986. The money will also be earmarked to help other community projects.
The cash reserve would protect the Festival's vulnerability when it comes to ticket sales and the Festival Center. Of the Festival's $4.2 million revenue in 1988, $1.6 million - 42 percent - came from ticket sales and 11 percent from the Festival Center. Rain on a critical day can cost your Rose Festival up to $175,000, and it has rained 45% of the time on critical revenue days at your Festival.
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As a last resort, the association could seek to shift some of its activities outside the city of Portland to communities that could be more financially supportive of the events and recognize the economic benefits, rather than jeopardize its existence by over-extending itself.
- The city should strengthen its special events office to coordinate and consolidate the city’s efforts and explore cost efficiencies.
The citizens of Portland want a strong, vibrant Rose Festival and good city services.
The association encourages citizens from all walks of life to share their opinions with their city commissioners now before Portland loses some of its best celebrations and events.
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