Thousands celebrate Texas Rose Festival

Published 12:52 pm Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Thousands of Tyler residents, out-of-towners and tourists gathered at Texas Rose Festival festivities to celebrate the event’s 90th year.

The festival is celebrated each year on the third weekend in October. The festivities attract not only community members, but visitors from surrounding areas and beyond, boosting tourism in the Rose City.

The Texas Rose Festival Association called it an “incredible weekend” and thanked everyone for coming out to celebrate the festival.

Since 1933, the Texas Rose Festival has represented the spirit that brings Tyler together as a community. Rich in heritage and tradition, the festival offers enchanting ceremonial events – the queen’s coronation, ribbon cutting and rose presentation, the Queen’s Tea, and the rose parade – “all amidst a backdrop of brilliant roses as vibrant and colorful as the community they represent,” according to the Texas Rose Festival Association.

The festival, with a theme this year of “The Story of Film,” is the culmination of months of work by committees and volunteers. The queen and her court are announced in January of each year.

Events began Thursday and continued through Sunday afternoon, including Saturday’s well-attended parade which featured more than 120 entries.

Along with the Rose Festival Court, thousands of onlookers enjoyed seeing floats with bands, cheerleaders, clowns, dancers, car clubs, color guards, local dignitaries, public service officials, Texas African American Museum queens, quinceañeras and more.

Members of this year’s court include Rose Queen Laura Elaine Bryan and Princess Conley Jeanette Patricia Cavender.

Another highlight of the weekend was the Queen’s Tea, during which the Tyler Rose Garden was transformed into a film-inspired wonderland.

The event is held each year and serves as an opportunity for people to get an up-close look at all of the costumes and meet the ladies wearing them.

Designed by Jacob A. Climer, the costumes were inspired by modern and classic films like “Jaws,” “Harry Potter,” “Legally Blonde,” “The Wizard of Oz” and more.

People of all ages showed up in droves to the garden where each lady on the court sat under a tent or mingled around the garden ready to take photos or give hugs.

With her name and “now showing” on a decorative marquee, Queen Laura Elaine Bryan sat under a magnificent tent designed to look like an old movie theatre. According to the Texas Rose Festival, the design was inspired by the old Tyler Theatre that celebrated its grand opening in 1940.

Sticking with the festival’s film theme, guests were treated to small bags of popcorn as hors d’oeuvres. Other film-inspired elements like life-sized Oscar trophies, film reels, walk-of-fame stars, red carpets and more created fun backdrops for the royal photo op.

The Texas Rose Festival Walk of Fame highlighted Tyler’s stars, celebrating each Rose Festival Queen in the festival’s rich 90-year history from Queen Margaret Copeland in 1933 to Queen Laura Elaine Bryan in 2023.

Guests were also welcome to mingle with vendors, check out the center’s gift shop, or take a tour of the museum filled with vintage dresses, crowns and other festival memorabilia.

For complete coverage including photo galleries and videos, visit tylerpaper.com/texas_rose_festival.