A volunteer army of alumni and friends worked together to create the University of Portland’s entry “Becoming” for the 79th Annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade. Volunteers labored around the clock from May 31 until Parade Day June 6 to produce an award winner, the 1987 UP float earning the prized Queen’s Trophy.
So what does it take to create a float?
- One float skeleton
- Over 300 dozen colorful flowers
- Over 1,700 hours of labor from over 200 alumni and friends
- Ironing corn husks
- Scraping bark (so the glue will stick)
- Plucking flower petals
- Gluing petal by petal
- Shaking seeds from bulbs
- Gluing seeds
- and many, many more tedious tasks
A beautiful, colorful float viewed by a crowd of over 350,000 on the parade route in Portland and by many, many more on television.
(Gallery of Photos from the University Archives, click to enlarge image)
