The Starlight Parade is one of the biggest events of the Portland Rose Festival, taking place on the first Saturday night of June. The parade route winds its way through downtown, snaking along 4th Avenue, Taylor Street, Broadway, and then over to 10th Avenue before finishing at Lincoln High School. It's certainly my favorite event of the year in Portland and it's been great seeing so many people take to the streets and rooftops and parking garages to enjoy the show. I tried to spend more time enjoying the parade than photographing it, but without further, a micro-set of a fantastic Saturday evening in downtown Portland.
Before the floats start along the route, us spectators get to enjoy the runners going by, only stopping for the occasional MAX train passing through.
It was an amazingly and surprisingly beautiful night for a parade. The weather had been a bit shitty a few days earlier. Warmed up just in time.
It isn't every day you get to stand in the middle of a deserted city street. Gotta seize these opportunities.
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013