The 41st annual Hyack International Parade attracted big crowds to the Royal City.
Held Saturday under sunny skies, the annual parade featured more than 100 entries, including floats, marching bands and mascots.
"I felt that there was great energy around the parade," said Douglas Smith, executive director of the Hyack Festival Association. "I think it was a tremendous success."
Bill Radbourne, president of the Hyack Festival Association, said it's estimated that the parade attracted 20,000 to city streets.
"Anytime you get a beautiful weekend like that, it is going to turn out perfect," he said. "If you get rainy weather, everyone disperses."
Radbourne said some people have estimated there were as many as 35,000 people in the uptown area just after the parade ended and the Uptown Live! street fair got underway.
Smith believes the parade was the best it's been in years.
"Portland and Spokane were here for the first time in memory," he said. "That was a huge feather in our cap for them to come here."
While Portland's band has regularly attended the parade, its float has not attended since 1993. In future years, Smith said parade organizers will continue to reach out to multicultural communities and recruit floats, mascots and marching bands for the annual parade. He said the association will focus on the quality control of the parade and take steps to ensure it is a stellar standalone event, which could include limiting the number of entries and requiring entries to be juried before they're permitted in the parade.
"It's just about making sure the colour and pageantry is as good as it could possibly be," he said.
- By Theresa McManus, staff reporter
