PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s a Rose Festival tradition: thousands will lace up their running shoes, and many will suit up in costume to run and walk the Starlight 5K on Saturday night, just ahead of the Starlight Parade.
The Starlight Run starts at 6 p.m. on Naito Parkway near the Salmon Street Springs fountain in downtown Portland. It’s an out and back course, meaning it turns around at Southwest 10th Avenue and Taylor Street. The course has changed a few times in the last few years. For many years, it started and finished at Lincoln High School.
The Starlight Parade starts around 7:30 p.m. Spectators, of course, will be trying to grab their spots early. The parade route closely resembles the run, though it continues west on Southwest Taylor Street, over Interstate 405, to the disband area near Southwest 15th & Taylor.
Southwest Naito Parkway will be closed at 10 a.m. on Saturday for set up. The parade route closes to traffic at 4 p.m. Some other major road closures include West Burnside Street and Southwest Broadway. Beginning as early as 5 p.m., the Southwest Naito onramp to the Hawthorne Bridge eastbound, the Morrison Bridge offramp to Southwest Naito, and the Morrison Bridge eastbound onramp from Naito will all be closed. The I-405 southbound on-ramp from Southwest Taylor Street will also be closed.
The parade ends around 10 p.m., but downtown traffic can be snarled for a while longer.
