PORT TOWNSEND — The Rhododendron Festival Association is looking for convertible car owners to provide a coach for Rhody royalty after the group’s $20,000 float burned after a parade over the weekend.
No one was injured in the Saturday fire, but the float was completely destroyed when it caught fire on Bethell Road in Port Orchard, said Christie Hensley, Rhododendron Festival president.
Festival royalty, junior royalty, the driver and chaperones were on the float just after finishing the Fathoms O’ Fun Grand Parade route and were on their way back to a staging area when one of the girls spotted smoke, Hensley said Sunday.
“Everyone jumped off the float, and it burst into flames. It burned fast,” she said.
There was no obvious cause for the fire.
Hensley said the float is a complete loss, but the group is already making plans to bounce back to finish the second half of the summer parade season, with $900 already raised.
The parade in Port Orchard was the festival’s sixth festival parade this year, and the group is scheduled for six more, beginning with the Forks Old Fashioned Fourth of July parade at noon Saturday.
Festival organizers met Saturday night and have vowed to find a new float, and the festival royalty is ready to jump back on.
“The girls are very brave. Their battle cry after the fire was, ‘We are Rhody,’” Hensley said.
To complete their festival schedule, Hensley has asked convertible car owners to help provide a ride for Rhody royalty in the Forks parade and for assistance to replace the float for later parades.
A fundraising account has been set up to help raise the money needed to purchase a new float or to refurbish a used float.
Donations can be made at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-RhodyFloat.
The burned float, which Hensley said is at least 20 years old, is stripped down to the frame each year in October, and in January, organizers start the process of rebuilding for the new year.
Hundreds of man-hours go into designing and rebuilding the float, she said.
She said this year the float’s basic frame was refurbished, including a new $2,300 sound system, as well as a new generator, muffler and fan.
A basic frame for an independently operating parade float is $6,000 to $7,000, then additional parts are added on, Hensley said.
Each float is inspected before each parade by parade officials, and there were no problems found Saturday.
“It was fine until the end of the parade,” Hensley said.
At the end of the parade, the float had begun to “sputter,” then caught fire, she said.
When the fire broke out, the four members of the festival royalty — festival queen Sam Smith and princesses Lillian Kelly, Morgan Chaffee and Deidra Morris — escaped without shoes because they are stored in the float while the girls stand on the float’s safety platforms.
They were unable to retrieve their shoes before the flames engulfed the trailer, Hensley said.
Also lost in the fire were some personal effects and the President’s Award plaque the group had just earned during the judging of the parade, she said.
Port Orchard Police helped the girls get shoes after the fire, she said, and the Port Orchard festival officials have vowed to replace the plaque.
Hensley said other festivals and the community of Port Orchard have been very supportive.
She said the festival float groups get to know each other and form friendships during the parade season.
The Port Townsend float was the second in the parade, she said, and all of the other floats had to pass by the burned float on their way back to their own trailers and vehicles.
“Everyone went by us in total disbelief,” she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
