PORT TOWNSEND — Marching bands, drill teams, royalty and flower-decked floats heated up the streets of Port Townsend on Saturday as the annual Rhododendron Grand Parade got started under partly sunny skies.
Temperatures barely hit 50 degrees by the 1 p.m. start, but storm clouds massing over the mountains stayed on the sidelines, leaving paraders a dry run down Lawrence Street to the downtown district.
“The sun always shines for Rhody,” said Helen Gunn, whose family gathered outside the Wild Coho, an uptown restaurant.
The parade, part of the 68th annual Rhododendron Festival, was led by patrol cars with sirens blazing. Port Townsend Police Chief Kristen Anderson played chauffeur to the department’s faux officer Bob Wire and his new papier-mache police dog companion.
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