The Rhododendron Festival is held in Florence Oregon each year in the 3rd weekend of May.
There have been some changes to Florence since the first Rhododendron Festival of 1908.
The population has grown from fewer than 500 to more than 8,000. The streets are paved, and the Siuslaw Bridge spans the river, and computers are commonplace.
The town has enjoyed many improvements in this last decade. It has a new library, hospital, convention center and justice center.
Logging, farming and fishing are no longer the major industries. They have all but disappeared.
The annual Florence Rhododendron Parade has grown to over 100 entries and attracts over 15,000 visitors.
Each spring the wild rhododendrons bloom in the hills and fields of Florence as they have been doing for 1,000 or more years, and the white-pink flowers still represent the end of winter and the imminent arrival of summer.
Each year there is a parade and a Rhododendron Queen, and each year beautiful wild flowers of Florence echo the theme of the first Florence Rhododendron Festival, “Watch Florence Grow."