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S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2018
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Spirit Mountain Casino’s float “Nature’s Playground” rolls down Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Portland during the 2018 Spirit Mountain Casino
Grand Floral Parade on Saturday, June 9. The float won the Peg Roseboro Award for the float with the most artistic design and presentation.
‘This is pretty cool seeing all of the people here’
PARADE continued
from front page
the 2018 theme “Play Happy.” The
float won the Peg Roseboro Award
for most artistic design and pre-
sentation.
The “Play Happy” theme was in-
spired by the Portland Thorns win-
ning the 2017 National Women’s
Soccer League championship, as
well as Portland resident Shalane
Flanagan winning the 2017 New
York City marathon.
Tribal Council members Lisa
Leno and Michael Langley attend-
ed. It was Leno’s first time at the
parade.
“I’m super excited to see our float
and our Royalty members come out
with it,” Leno said. “Attending the
parade has been a bucket list item
for me for several years and this is
a great opportunity to finally do it.”
Social Services Department Man-
ager Dana Ainam also was viewing
the parade for the first time.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “I am
anticipating all of the floats.”
Ainam added that Spirit Moun-
tain Casino sponsoring the parade
is a great opportunity to promote
the Tribe.
“I think it helps a lot,” she said.
“It shows that we are interested in
the community. Chachalu (Museum
& Cultural Center) was featured in
the Rose Festival program so this
is a great way to get the word out.”
A write-up on Chachalu on page
43 of the Rose Festival guide in-
cluded information on the “Rise of
the Collectors” exhibit, which will
be on display until May 2019.
The write-up describes the float
as featuring the Tribe’s “respect
and reverence” for the homeland it
now shares with festivalgoers.
“The sponsorship of the Rose
Festival’s signature event is a gift
to the community, much as the
Chachalu Museum & Cultural
Center is a gift to the community,”
it states.
The Oregon Humane Society was
the charity of choice for the 2018
parade and a canine grand marshal
was selected for the first time in the
event’s 106 years.
Diesel, a 2.5-year-old English Mas-
tiff, is owned by Jennifer Vietch of
Sandy. He was selected as grand mar-
shal from approximately 150 entries.
Iyana Holmes adds seed to a rock as
she helps decorate Spirit Mountain
Casino’s Grand Floral Parade float
“Nature’s Playground” at the
Funtastic Traveling Shows’ office in
Portland on Wednesday, June 6.
Jocelyn Huffman, left, applies
coconut to a Spirit Mountain Casino
sign as Joann Mercier applies glue
for the coconut to stick to as they
decorate the sign that was part of
the casino’s Grand Floral Parade
float “Nature’s Playground” at the
Funtastic Traveling Shows’ office in
Portland on Wednesday, June 6.
“This is pretty cool to be a part of
the parade,” she said. “We weren’t
expecting this at all.”
Before the parade began, Grand
Ronde Royalty and Veterans Roy-
alty members got a behind-the
scenes sneak peek at the various
floats in the staging area behind
the coliseum, and had the op-
portunity to exchange hugs with
Rose Festival Court members who
visited the Elders Activity Center
and achaf-hammi, the Tribal plank-
house, on May 29.
Veterans Royalty Junior Queen
Tasina Bluehorse, 11, has attended
the parade before, but not as a part
of Royalty.
“This is pretty cool seeing all of
the people here,” she said.
Her favorite part of serving on
Royalty is the opportunity to have
new experiences.
“I’ve enjoyed going to all of the
different events like powwows and
parades,” she said.
Tribal Royalty also participated
in the Starlight Parade held the
previous Saturday on June 2.
As per Portland parade weather
tradition, it began raining as the
parade began, but that didn’t put
a damper on the festivities.
Senior Miss Isabelle Grout, Ju-
nior Miss Kaleigha Simi, Little
Miss Sophia Grout, Junior War-
rior Nacoma Liebelt and Tiny
Tot Jameson Turner, along with
Veterans Royalty Senior Queen
Princess Mabel Brisbois and Blue-
horse walked in the coliseum with
the float and waved to the crowds
before heading outside to the pa-
rade route.
As the final floats rolled through
the coliseum and chalet area, the
clouds parted once again and gave
way to sunshine, which led some to
continue on to the CityFair carni-
val, where they could “play happy”
and view the floats and mini-floats
on display along Naito Parkway.