Daffodil Parade with princesses aplenty stays put while you do the driving
The Daffodil Parade isn’t coming to you this year, but you can go to it.
The Pierce County tradition, canceled in 2020 due to concerns over COVID-19, has been resurrected as a stationary parade, part of the modified Spring Fair at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup.
Last year’s cancellation was the first since World War II and organizers were determined to have a parade one way or another in 2021, said spokeswoman Madison Newberry.
Plans for a drive-through Spring Fair were already underway when Daffodil Festival volunteers forged a partnership with fair organizers.
“It’s the only way we can think of to get the Daffodil Festival back in front of the public,” said parade director Bob Sudderth.
The Spring Fair opened Wednesday with 20 floats and displays that would normally be rolling through the streets of Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner and Orting this month. Now, they are parked along the route fair goers take as they drive through the modified event for the next two weeks (April 7-11, 14-18).
In addition to the princess float at the beginning of the route, other local and community floats are on display. Fresh daffodils are used on the floats and will be replaced for the second week of the fair.
School bands, a mainstay of the parade, will make appearances.
Unlike a normal parade, this one isn’t free. Tickets are $30 per carload.
Donations to the Daffodil Festival took a hit in 2020 that has yet to rebound.
“The expenses keep coming,” Sudderth said.
Plenty of princesses
All 23 of the 2021 princesses, 14 of the 2020 princesses and seven from 2019 are staffing the floats and making appearances along the car route, Sudderth said.
Queen Katie Gilbert from White River High School will be making appearances in her crown. Though chosen in 2019, Gilbert is the reigning queen because a new one wasn’t chosen in 2020 and this year’s queen won’t be crowned until April 26.
The 2021 princesses have been making a few, socially distanced appearances in matching yellow masks, said Newberry, a former Daffodil princess herself.
Their appearances at a Tacoma Easter egg hunt and at sponsors Knutson Farms and The Old Cannery have provided a short return to normalcy, she said.
“It was so nice to see daffodil princesses out in the community again,” Newberry said.
The princesses staff three shifts a day for the duration of the fair, waving and interacting with fair goers as they normally would in a moving parade.
“This is the only way we could have a semblance of a parade,” Sudderth said.
The 2021 queen will be crowned in a livestreamed event at 7 p.m. April 26 on Facebook.
The annual Maritime Daffodil Parade is scheduled for Apirl 18 and will travel from the Tacoma Yacht Club to downtown Tacoma along the Foss Waterway.
The annual Junior Daffodil Parade is canceled this year.
If you go
Timed, advance tickets are required for entry to the Spring Fair. Find them at tickets.thefair.com/
Fair goers can leave their vehicles to shop and purchase food as well as visit various adjunct entertainment such as dock dogs and pig racing.
When: 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. timed entries, April 8-11, 14-18.
Where: Washington State Fair Events Center, 110 9th Ave SW, Puyallup
