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Blooming Rhododendron
History — and me
By Ramiro Ramirez
Siuslaw High School
Student
T
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hat time of year has
come again. It’s Rhody
Days here in the town of
Florence — where the com-
petition heats up in the
Rhody Run, a lucky girl will
be Queen Rhododendra
and a lucky guy King of the
Coast, and ages of all kinds
are thrilled by the rides and
games that Davis Shows
Northwest has to offer.
Some may know it, some
may not, but the tradition of
having the Rhododendron
Festival dates back more
than a century ago.
Let’s go back to some of
the first Rhododendron
Festivals. First stop is the
first festival. It is 1908, and
the town is bustling with
new festivity. The very first
Queen Rhododendra is Lau-
ra Johnson.
Things were presented
differently in older times.
In this case, the queen got
to ride in specially deco-
rated boats on the Siuslaw
River with Mayor George
Edwards. He then presented
the key to the city, which was
made out of Rhododendron
wood.
Johnson had dinner at the
Western House, along with
a public picnic. Throughout
the afternoon, athletic con-
tests, music recitals and wa-
ter exercises were booming
all around the town.
Here’s a fact: the first
Queen Rhododendra was
not born in Florence. You’ll
have to skip two years to
find the first Florence-born
queen. Also during that time
period, attendance started
to increase. In 1910, 1,200
to 1,500 people attended the
festival, and in 1913, 2,000
people showed up for the
festivities. That same year,
Rhody Festival
Rhody Days festivities begin all over town today and con-
tinue through Sunday. Visit FlorenceChamber.com for info.
the carnival had an arrow
shooting tournament with
11 potential queens. The
goal of the game was to get
the highest score as possible
to become queen.
As time passed, many
things have changed. One
of those moments was the
early start of Rhody Days af-
ter the Siuslaw River Bridge
was completed, and another
in which it was the 100th
anniversary of the Rhody
Festivals in 2008. This year
is the 112th year since the
first Rhododendron Festi-
val, even though the festival
wasn’t celebrated for several
years.
My first Rhody Days ex-
perience can be traced back
to 2007. Many of my festival
memories consist of me go-
ing on many different rides.
One particular memory was
the bumper cars attraction
they had, since I remember
being too small for it.
Along with that came the
Ferris Wheel ride, a beau-
tiful experience. At the top
you can see almost all of
Old Town with cars rolling
downtown and the Siuslaw
River Bridge hoisting the
cars across the Siuslaw River.
Other rides that I’ve liked
are Pharaoh’s Fury, Wipeout
and Sizzler. Rides that I used
to go on, but no longer can
due to height restrictions,
include Dragon’s Dream,
a ride that is similar to the
Rock Star but smaller, and
an Indiana Jones themed
maze that contains numer-
ous obstacles.
And while that may be
the typical youngster’s expe-
rience in the Rhody Festival,
I will never forget the pa-
rade of hot rods that come
to town — especially when
we get to hear the high RPM
whine from them.
That’s not the only pa-
rade we get though, as we
also have the Rhody Parade
featuring floats represent-
ing groups from all across
the county and the state. It
is fun to see it in person, but
to be a part of it is a new ex-
perience.
I have been a part of the
Rhody parade three times
and am looking forward to
my fourth appearance in
it. The first two times were
with CROW (Children’s
Repertory of Oregon Work-
shops) while the third one
was with the Siuslaw Youth
Soccer Association. This
time, I am going to be a part
of the Last Resort Players’
float to publicize our up-
coming musical, “Mamma
Mia!”
I am intrigued to see what
creative floats our locals and
neighboring cities have to
offer this year. I’m sure it will
be something interesting.
Happy Rhody Days!
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