PGE’s Rose Festival float features Plant It Portland!
Portland General Electric’s Rose Festival float–themed Right Tree, Right Place, Right On!–reaches new heights this year with the feature of Friends of Trees’ mascot Garry Oak, a nine-foot-tall mighty oak tree with bright green foliage and an animated smile. PGE has teamed up with Friends of Trees for the PGE/SOLV Starlight Parade on June 4 and the Spirit Mountain Casino Grand Floral Parade on June 11.
The float celebrates Friends of Trees’ “Plant It Portland!”campaign, a three-year project with a goal of planting 16,000 street trees in East Portland neighborhoods. In addition to Garry Oak, the 20-foot-long float will feature Friends of Trees “planting events” in both neighborhood and natural area settings with live trees, shrubs and greenery.
Three outstanding Friends of Trees volunteers will join Garry Oak on each float: the Starlight Parade will feature Conan Harmon-Walker, who has volunteered with Friends of Trees for more than 14 years and planted nearly 18,000 trees during his tenure; Leah Haykin, an assistant crew leader for Friends of Trees who recently received an honorable mention as 2011 Neighborhood Trees Rookie of the Year, an award given to first-year crew leaders who show extraordinary commitment; and Dianna Shervey, a PGE arborist who also acts as chair of the Urban Forestry Commission.
The Grand Floral Parade float will be represented by PGE employee Wayne Lei, who planted the very first seeds of Friends of Trees’ 1996-2001 “Seed the Future” campaign; Mary Harrell, who has worked as the Friends of Trees office manager since 1995 and has many tree plantings under her belt; and again by Harmon-Walker. Friends of Trees’ board members, key volunteers, staff members, and bicycling crews will walk alongside both floats.
“PGE cares about the sustainability of our environment and our neighborhoods, and recognizes that trees play a big part in both,” said Kregg Arntson, PGE’s community affairs manager. “They save energy by shading our homes, as well as provide habitat for wild creatures, help clean our air and beautify our neighborhoods. They can also prevent tree-related power outages. By partnering with Friends of Trees and planting the right tree in the right place, PGE can help ensure delivery of safe, reliable power to our customers.”
Again this year, PGE employee volunteers will also take part with SOLV in the clean up of the streets and parks along the parade route, as they have done since 1996. PGE has supported Friends of Trees since its inception 22 years ago, volunteering thousands of hours and supporting Friends of Trees’ many neighborhood plantings and watershed restoration projects.