6 JULY 1,2007
Smoke Signals
The Tribe And Spirit Mountain Casino Participate In
The Portland Rose Festival Centennial Celebration
By Angie Sears
"Celebrating Our Traditions,"
a pow-wow themed float, won the
Grand Prize in this year's Grand
Floral Parade on Saturday, June 9.
Participating in the Grand Flo
ral Parade has become a tradition
for Spirit Mountain Casino and
the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde. And it is no surprise they
are bringing home a prize with this
years entry. The pow-wow themed
float, draped with more than 3,700
flowers, featured a giant-sized Na
tive American playing a hand held
drum.
Grand Ronde Royalty, the Vet
eran's Young Warrior, and Tribal
Elder Kathryn Harrison rode on
the float in full regalia along with
the Eagle Beak drummers, who
drummed and sang as they trav
eled down the parade route. The
Grand Ronde Honor Guard and a
group of Tribal dancers led them
in, while another group of dancers
danced along side the float. And ac
companying the float on horseback
was Camille Mercier and Perri
McDaniel. The horses they rode
were wearing traditional beaded
trappings.
Kathy Bland, Sponsorship Coor
dinator for Spirit Mountain Casino
and coordinator of this year's float,
invited a representative from each
of the other eight northwest Tribes
to join the Grand Ronde Tribe and
dance along with the pow-wow
themed float. Holly Jackson, Ms.
Siletz, was able to join in on the
pow-wow fun, as she rode along side
the Grand Ronde Royalty.
This year's float was built by
Tribal members, casino employees,
other volunteers, and the staff of
Creative Concepts. The volunteers
dedicated many long hours work
ing on the elaborate details of each
piece of the float.
"It's crazy; everything on the
float is edible," said Cindy Duval,
casino employee. "The arm band is
made of dried pineapple and the
belt i9 made with poppy seeds. It's
like paint-by-number; you just put
glue on it and then stick the seeds
to it."
b7
This is Duval's first year helping
out with the float. She said she
wanted to help to see for herself
how it was made and what materi
als were used. She continued to
explain that the breastplate was
made with papaya, Blue Statice
(a type of a flower), wheat sticks,
and white beans. The shirt is made
with red pepper chili flakes, and
the pants are golden millet (a type
of bird seed).
While Duval describes the ma
terials being used, another casino
,4
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r? . -kit" 4-(
v.'
r
12a
employee Tawny Purtain gets stuck
between the drum and arm while
trying to glue poppy seeds on the
belt.
Tribal member Janet Billey-Tom
also helped out with the float. This
is her third year as a volunteer at
Creative Concepts, but she said it
is only her first year to work on the
Grand Ronde float. In the past she
worked on floats for PGE and the
Queen's court.
Billey-Tom, who was asked to
walk in the parade, said she is
proud to be given the opportunity to
standing design.
Gene Dent, the owner of Creative
Concepts, said his staff works
closely with the casino representa
tive (this year Kathy Bland) and
the Tribe's culture committee to
ensure that the details of the float
are culturally accurate.
'The original trees on this year's
float were crooked and the culture
committee was uncomfortable with
that because of its significance, so
we made them straight," said Dent.
"It's really great that we have that
relationship with the culture com-
"I would like to thank the Grand Ronde Tribe for
allowing the Rose Court to come to their reservation.
It was good for me to see the unity of the Tribe."
Mercedes White Calf (Oglala-Sioux),
Rose Court Princess
Grand Ronde Tribal member Delores .Petitie in the 1943 Grand Floral Parade
Rose Court is shown here (arrow).
represent the Grand Ronde Tribe.
'The shells I will wear represent
the Tribes that I am," she said. "I
will have a basket full of willows
from the reservation, and each
garment that I wear represents
the Grand Ronde Tribes that I am
from."
Building floats for the Grand
Floral Parade draws in more than
just a local crowd. Arline Brill, 64
of Cincinnati, OH, has helped with
the Grand Ronde float for the past
three years.
Brill, a member of the One More
Time Around Again Marching
Band, spends three weeks in Port
land every year to practice with the
band before the parade. The band
has more than 500 members, all of
which range in age from 18 to 85,
and is said to be
the largest per
manent march
ing band in the
world.
Brill said she
likes to spend at
least two days
helping with the
floats and she
always requests
to work on the
Grand Ronde
float.
"I'm not Na
tive American,
but I've read just
about every book
about them. ...
I think there's
something about
the way Tribal
beliefs are tied
into nature. It
just draws me to them," she said.
The Tribe began participating in
the Grand Floral Parade in 1996,
and has since entered a float every
year with the exception of 2002
and 2003. Each year, a casino rep
resentative has enlisted the help
of Creative Concepts to design and
build the float, and each year the
float has won an award for its out-
j
Grand Ronde Tribal member Delores
Petite was selected as a Rose Festival
Princess in 1943.
mittee so we know those important
details."
The Grand Ronde have ties
to the Portland Rose Festival
dating back to the 1940s
In 1943, Grand Ronde Tribal
member Delores Petite was select
ed as a Rose Festival princess by
the Girls' Polytechnic high school
in Portland. She was the daughter
of James and Louise Petite. She
was 16 years-old and was full of
ambition. She was a member of the
Usher Club, the Stretcher Corps
(a high school first aid unit), the
girls' sextet, the school chorus, and
she had aspirations of being a war
nurse.
1943 was during the era of World
War II and the festival was re
ferred to as the
"wartime" Rose
Festival. Due to
military restric
tions, the Rose
Festival and Ro
sarian functions
were limited and
the parade was
cancelled. The
girls kept busy
with other events,
as well as helping
with war projects
and comforting
injured solders.
The queen's coro
nation took place
at the amphithe
ater in Wash
ington Park and
admission was
the purchase of
a war savings
stamp for twenty-five cents.
Petite did achieve her dream of
becoming a nurse. She worked in
the operating room and then as a
psychiatric nurse. She had three
children, Jim, Danny (who passed
away in 1975), and Julie. She also
See ROSE FESTIVAL
on page 7