PORT TOWNSEND — It only took the Rhododendron Festival Association one day to secure a replacement parade float after the group lost its own to a fire.
On Sunday, the organization was offered use of an auxiliary float from the Lilac Festival in Spokane and plans to use it for the remainder of its parade season, which is now half complete.
The new float will be picked up in Spokane and transported to Port Townsend within the next two weeks, according to Rhody board secretary Brandi Hamon.
It will then be redecorated and configured for upcoming parades, but it will not be as elaborate as what was lost.
The float that burned Saturday, valued at around $20,000, included a $2,300 sound system as well as a new muffler, generator and fan.
The Rhody float caught fire immediately after its participation in the Fathoms O’ Fun parade in Port Orchard.
Personal property was also lost in the fire, including the President’s Award plaque the group had just earned during the judging of the parade.
The replacement float won’t be ready in time for the group’s next two appearances: the Forks Old Fashioned Fourth of July parade Saturday and the McCleary Bear Festival on July 11.
For those events, the royalty will ride the parade in convertibles.
While several people have committed their cars to those events, the organization is still looking for volunteers with convertibles to participate, Hamon said.
There is also a Gofundme crowdfunding page, http://tinyurl.com/PDN-RhodyFloat, intended to raise funds for the purchase of a new float as the loaned float will need to be returned at the end of the season.
As of Monday afternoon, the page had collected $2,115 in pledges toward a $20,000 goal.
The float that burned, which was more than 20 years old, was stripped down and configured to reflect a different theme each year.
Upon completing the parade Saturday, the Rhody Royalty — queen Sam Smith and princesses Lillian Kelly, Morgan Chaffee and Deidra Morris — smelled smoke and immediately jumped off the float, according to Hamon.
“I was concerned with their safety, so I just told them to jump off the float and start running,” Hamon said.
The four young women left the float quickly and did not recover their shoes, purses and cellphones, which were all destroyed in the fire, Hamon said.
According to a report from South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, firefighters arrived at the scene at 595 Bethel Ave. near South Kitsap High School to find a “fully involved” fire on the 20-foot float.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze and prevented its spread.
The fire originated from the engine area and was due to a gasoline leak or break, the report states.
The float was taken to Peninsula Recycling in the Four Corners area south of Port Townsend where it will be dismantled, Hamon said.
Saturday’s fire was not the first to claim a North Olympic Peninsula parade float.
The Sequim Irrigation Festival’s elaborate “112 Years and Still Rockin’” float burned in a roadside fire at Dosewallips State Park on Sept. 8, 2007. No one was hurt.
The float, royalty and chaperones were coming back from the Hoquiam Loggers Playday parade.
It was replaced quickly after individuals and businesses in Sequim donated the money for the purchase of a 1985 Ford station wagon to convert into a float.
As there were no injuries in Saturday’s fire, the Rhody organization is moving ahead and looking forward to the rest of the season.
Rhododendron Festival president Christy Hensley said she was grateful for the help from Spokane.
“We meet up with them at different festivals across Washington,” Hensley said of the donors.
“The float community has a culture all its own with friendship at the core.”
To volunteer to drive a convertible in an upcoming Rhody appearance, visit http://www.rhodyfestival.org/contact.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Arwyn Rice contributed to this report.
