100th Celebration of the Historic Columbia River Highway

Hello!  Well, the "Big Event" went well yesterday.  The DAR Centennial Chorus arrived early and had breakfast in the Lodge alongside the 5 flower girls and their mothers.  Then we all went down to the "Green Room" - the Visitors Center was closed for the event - and the chorus rehearsed the National Anthem and Roll On Columbia - and a song about Oregon.  People would come to the door to listen to us.  :-)  Then we headed up to the falls to find the chairs reserved for us.  We passed this old bike and posed for a photo.  From left is Janet, Teresa, Roberta, Ruth, Nancy and Becky.

Dayle took several photos for us by the grand piano to be used during the event - then we had to take our seats as things were beginning to get rolling.  I took a quick look at the photos and was horrified to see all the "noise" in each and every photo.  Come to find out there was dust and mist landing on the lens and Dayle was shooting into the sun.  But I decided to tell you that it's "bokeh" and we did it on purpose to be artsy.  :-)

How cool is it that they brought a real grand piano and set it up right in front of the falls?  Thomas Lauderdale from the band "Pink Martini" was to play "Roll On Columbia" for a group sing.

OK, we're ready.. :-)

Former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts came by to chat with us.  She is just a doll and very charming.  To the right is Jeanette Kloos who is the President of the Friends of the Historic Columbia River Highway and spearheaded this event.  

Some of the dignitaries that would speak at the event.  The man in period dress, Tom Burns, played Sam Hill and was the Master of Ceremonies of the event.  The man on the left is Wayne Stewart, Chair of the Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee, then Barbara Roberts and Former Governor Ted Kulongoski.

Ted K. came over to chat with the DAR Chorus and spent at least 20 minutes asking us about DAR and telling us he was a past Marine.  What a neat man!

Roberta told him about our Dad who was a Marine who went in on the first wave at Iwo Jima.  He asked about our ancestors that we used to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and how far back we knew of our patriots.  

The ceremony began with a blessing chant from Chief Delvis Heath, Sr. and Jefferson Greebe from the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.  When they both began to loudly chant in their Native tongue, I got chills and my heart filled as I have Native blood in me.  You could hear a pin drop as they chanted to us and the waterfall.

Then the DAR Chorus went up on the steps to the microphone and sang the National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.  It was wonderful.  It is hard to look good while singing.. :-)

Dayle was standing next to the television cameras snapping away, the flower girls came next with their baskets of rose petals, tossing them along the way.  My friend Keturah organized 5 little local girls with long-time Corbett families.  They wore matching lace dresses, white tights and shoes.  All had pretty hair all fixed up for the event.  They were wonderful!  Then the Queen of Rosaria from the Portland Rose Festival was led up to the dais.

The girls stood together and then sat together on the steps during the entire event.  So cute!

We had a nice contingent of the Royal Rosarians, the ambassadors for the Portland Rose Festival there.  I know several of the RR personally, and they are wonderful representatives of our city and state.  

We heard speeches from all the dignitaries which were great, then three trumpeters played a celebratory tune and the flag was dropped from the bridge.

The DAR Centennial Chorus also sang Roll On Columbia with accompaniment by Thomas Lauderdale on the grand piano, then sang "This State is Your State" to the tune of "This Land is Your Land".  Everyone joined in and it was quite wonderful.

The event came to an end and it was a great day.

As we strolled down from the falls we saw the flower girls posing with the Royal Rosarian Prime Minister Rick Saturn and his wife, so we joined in for a group photo.

As we all got to my car to head home, Dayle snapped some photos of the vintage cars - 30-40 of them participated in the event.

A photo of Dayle, our official photographer for the day.  :-)

This photo is by my sister Roberta using her iPhone - there were two Monarch butterflies circling the area in front of us and between the dignitaries, then one landed on the microphone.  What a neat memory.

Keturah snapped this neat photo of the flower girls around the piano. Her daughter actually played an amazing tune on the piano, Keturah video'ed it, but I can't share it as it's on my phone and I can't send it to myself for some reason.

The event actually started in Troutdale, then on to Vista House where a biplane flew around the building and a cannon was fired.  Then the dignitaries got into the vintage cars for a trip on to the last event at Multnomah Falls.  Karen Hawley took all these VH photos and allowed me to share them with you.

There are more photos to be found HERE.  What a great day.  I hope you enjoyed the images and story.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)