Four of the more than 250,000 who eventually lined streets in downtown Portland for Saturday night's Rose Festival Starlight Parade & Serendipity #1

Saturday before I rode the MAX Red Line to shop, I rode the bus to Pioneer Courthouse Square. Walking from corner to corner, searching for the best place to stand to take the photo(s) I plan to share with you tomorrow, I noticed across Broadway people in folding chairs staking out their spot for that night's parade. I stooped over and took this photo through the scaffolding which held an array of spotlights.


At the other end of the same block, a teenager enjoys a slice of pizza seated in the shade of his tent. Next to him two women, who surely must be related, attempt to settle in with their blanket and chairs. The one in the pink top appears to be on her cell phone--note how she has her left shoulder pressed up to her ear. The one in the turquoise top appears to be answering questions from the two children. I wonder where the barricades on the right ended up. in front of them, street level or blocking the intersection to the pizza eater's right?


You know me, I always want to know more, so I Googled to see if I could find a photo that showed where street barricades were set up. Now for the serendipity photo that I found online at the KGW, Channel 8, NBC affiliate's Web page, in their slideshow of the parade--they also broadcast it live. Anyway, I know it's small, but if you look closely, you'll see all sorts of neat-o stuff. There on the left you see the teen with the short black hair holding his left arm parallel with the street? That is the young man who is eating the slice of pizza in my photo. The little boy in the green T-shirt, sitting on the man's lap, is the little boy standing talking to the woman in the turquoise top in my photo. The blonde in the pink top is the woman who was on the cell phone in my photo. She's sitting in the red short chair; and the lady in the turquoise top is sitting in another one of their short chairs that you see in my photo. The girl in my photo is sitting on the curb, wearing a pink and white bunny ears headband in the KGW photo. Plus, if you look just to the right of the boy who ate the slice of pizza, you see part of a barricade, right where I figured they would be, blocking the intersection. And how about, on the right, that wonderful black and white dog with the smiling woman? Calmly enjoying the night. What fun!

I didn't go to the parade, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it on KGW. Maybe I'll go one of these years when I have a companion, you know, someone to save my spot while I search for somewhere that will let me come in and use the facilities. More than 250,000--whew--I'll bet those facilities were few and far between.