The Macy’s Holiday Parade is a grand PDX tradition. Marching bands and performance artists of various sorts from around the greater Portland and southwestern Washington state areas strut their best stuff in what has become the official kickoff to the holiday season. This year the weather did not cooperate, but the parade went on undaunted. A bit tough on the photographers though, I must say…
Leading off the 2012 edition was the Camus, WA marching band. These are the Papermakers, named after the big GP paper-mill that operates on the west end of town. Always a tight band.
Positioned near the front of the procession this year was the band from Robert Gray Middle School (above, and the following two images). This group is a crowd favorite, with their rendition of Walking in a Winter Wonderland. Good all-around this year, with a particularly strong horn section.
Members of the River City Pipe Band (above and below) provided tones that were in perfect accord with the drizzly mood of the day.
For color and gesture, nothing can beat the clowns (two images following). I didn’t catch the name of this group, but they are regulars to this event, and always present extremely well.
Can anything top Shiners in tricked-out go-carts (below)? I have to doubt it. The front cart is nick-named ‘Renegade’…
Princesses on horseback are one of my favorite subjects. The princesses seem to like photographers too, and are the most cooperative subjects of the parade. Here, we have the Princess of the Vancouver Rodeo (above) and the Princess of Columbia County (below). Lovely.
Winners of the most dangerous entry were two lady rodeo clowns on stilts (above). How they manage to stay upright while performing antics and running back and forth across the road I will never know.
We caught up with that famous Robert Gray band on the backside of the parade. Note the excellent technique exhibited by the trombone player above.
The carriage carrying the Holiday Parade King and Queen and the royal personages themselves appear above and below. King and Queen manage to remain their regal selves in spite of the provocation of the elements.
A big favorite of the crowd is shown above: Sisterhood of the Green Leotard with the Poinsettia Parasols. Okay, maybe that’s not their real name. Whatever, they are all lovely and talented.
For color and gesture, it would be hard to top Raggedy Ann and Andy and their Attendants (above and below).
This majorette from Beaverton High Marching Band (above) keeps focus in spite of the brash intrusion of the parade paparazzi. We got her to smile though.
It’s about the kids really, or the kid in all of us, or something like that. Cute little tyke.
Finally, Santa Claus!!! Dude, I was wondering when you would show up… Oh, at the end, right.
Images in this entry were recorded on the morning of Noverber 23, 2012, using the Nikon D4 and the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED at various focal lengths. Exposures were at f/5.6 or f/8.0, and 1/800s or 1/1000s, ISO 6400. The 70-200mm with the 1.4x tele might have been the better choice, but that combination is much heavier.
Copyright 2012 Peter F. Flynn. No usage permitted without prior written consent. All rights reserved.
Tags: Macy's Holiday Parade, PDX
An excellent post that truly captured the spirit of the parade. All images really pop off the page even though it was a rainy dark day. The shots of the Robert Gray players shows their determination even thought it was raining so hard. The pic of Santa is outstanding, the rain being caught mid flight almost looks like snow, it works very well. An excellent post. Well done.
Thanks for checking in, and for the kind remarks. Thanks a bunch also for the rain cover – deploying even the simplest covers can be a bit of a pain. I’m thinking of writing a piece on rain protection – I think that there are compelling arguments for the disposal version.
P.