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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2004)
8 JULY 1, 2004 Smoke Signals "A JOURNEY OF TRADITION" f1 WSr-cU IV At rfKLUK;. 'fPH -i?iVJ jkl.Vi ?SkK I -irtiir 1 View From The Top Tina Villalobos captured this image of the Tribes' entry into this year's 2004 Grand Floral Parade through downtown Portland from the roof of the Hilton Hotel The RO foot lono- float was oi-ionsoroH Vw thoTrihot1 sVimirraao Rnirit Mountain ("lasino ano" titleo1 "A Innrnpv of Tradition " The nararle iiirln-es were so impressed with this year's entry they gave it the event's top honor "The Sweepstakes Award." Spirit Mountain's entry into the Rose Festival Parade wins top honors. ByPeta Tinda "A Journey of Tradition," won the Sweepstakes Award for Most Out standing Float in the Parade at this year's Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, held in Portland on Saturday, June 12. The Spirit Mountain Casino float depicts a traditional Chinookian fam ily in a Western Red Cedar canoe. Spirit Mountain Casino worked closely with the Grand Ronde Tribal Cultural Resources Department to en sure that the float was as culturally accurate as possible. The Grand Floral Parade is the sec ond largest all-floral parade in North America and the single-largest spec tator event in Oregon. More than 500,000 spectators lined the 4.3 mile parade route which began Leno, age 8, was one of the princesses. "I was really excited," said Leno. "I wasn't nervous, it was really fun. The float portrayed a Tribal family, gathering plants native to Grand Ronde, such as wapato, skunk cabbage and camas. The child, seated in front of the ca noe, wears a Southern Oregon style spruce root cap, while the woman wears a Northwest-Coastal cedar root hat. The father is wearing a Kalapuyan hunter's cap and propels the canoe with a Chinookian style paddle, which is grasped at the pommel. All three wear traditional cedar bark or cattail reed clothing and are shown using Western Oregon style woven hazel baskets. The float measures over 50 feet long and 13 feet high. v 1 limriTftn Q- "I'm With The Band" Dozens of marching bands made their way through Downtown Portland during the parade. The Rose Festival Parade is the single largest spectator event in Oregon. inside the Memorial Coliseum and con tinued through downtown Portland. KOIN 6 TV broadcast the parade live and syndicated it to more than 30 million television viewers. The float carried smiling and wav ing Grand Ronde Tribal Royalty prin cesses along the parade route. Little Miss Grand Ronde Kiana Three thousand fresh flowers adorned the float, put in place by vol unteers from Spirit Mountain Casino. The volunteers filled over 2,000 vials of water to keep the flowers fresh. The float was covered in all-natural mate rials, such as flaxseed, cornmeal and cinnamon powder. The canoe is traditional Chinookian ocean-going canoe, complete with a carved "heart," on the bow. "The heart is an integral part of the canoe," said Cultural Education Coor dinator Tony Johnson, who helped with consulting on the project. "It represents the canoe as a living, animate thing." "It was an experience I'll never for get. It's a whole lot better in person. The flowers are so much more bril liant," said Tribal Cultural Protection Specialist Perri McDaniel, who accom panied the float along the route dressed in traditional regalia and riding a 16 hand thoroughbred horse. A small child came up to her and with the help of his father, reached up and handed her a rose. "I almost cried," she said. "That was really special. I really felt honored and proud to be one of the ones chosen." Out of hundreds of applicants in the equestrian category, only 34 were se lected to participate, including McDaniel and Tribal Community Fund Administrative Assistant Paula Cook, who rode in the parade and pro vided the horses. The horse trappings McDaniel used in the parade are over 50 years old and were loaned to her by a close friend from Warm Springs. It was decorated with a four direc tions pattern that matched the regalia she was wearing. Thousands of indi vidual glass beads were sewn on, one-by-one, to make McDaniel's cape. McDaniel won second place for best in the Individual Native or National Costume category. B
