Portland's Rose Festival celebrates 100 years this June.  This eleven day event is a local favorite for many generations.  This year the festivities kick off on May 31, 2007.

Each year all of the local Portland high schools select students to become a part of the Rose Court to represent their school and compete for the coveted Rose Queen title.  This creates quite a buzz among the high school girls during the spring every year.

There is the Starlight Parade, the Junior Parade and the Grand Floral Parade.  All parade routes run through Downtown Portland and you may want to get there quite early (one day before) if you want to have a good view of the festivities.  many people have a tradition of getting on the routes the night before and "camping" out to reserve their traditional spots.

The Fleet Visitation is draws a good amount of interested people to Waterfront Park.  The US Navy, Coast Guard and Canadian Maritime ships are here for a four day visit.  Also located at Waterfront Park is the Village or "Fun Center" as it has been called in years past.  This venue has rides, games and international food available for you to try.

Another favorite event is the Dragon Boat Races.  This is Portland's 18th year hosting this event and it is quite colorful.

For more information on this year's Portland Rose Festival, visit www.rosefestival.org