Dogs for Better Lives picked as grand marshal; events include parade, Pear Blossom Run, street fair and much more

Medford’s quintessential community celebration, the Pear Blossom Festival and Parade, is already underway and with much more to come.

The annual event, which has already seen the crowning of Pear Blossom Queen Paige Schiffer of South Medford High School, celebrates the start of spring with a parade, the Pear Blossom Run, a street fair, golf tournament and more as the lush, blossoming flowers and plants return to Southern Oregon.

This year marks the 72nd annual Pear Blossom Festival, with 2025’s theme being “Pear of Paws.”

“This should be a really fun one,” said Darcey Mann-Self, president of the Pear Blossom Festival Association. She’s been involved in the event for the past 39 years.

There are numerous activities related to the Pear Blossom Festival throughout April.

In chronological order, the upcoming events include the Pear Blossom Golf Tournament starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6; the Smudge Pot Stroll from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 11, for participants to check out and dine in downtown Medford’s many eateries and restaurants; the Pear A Fare from 3 to 10 p.m. April 11 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 12, to celebrate the unique flavors of the Rogue Valley with participating local brewers, wineries and more; the street fair from noon to 10 p.m. April 11 and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 12 with many vendors at Pear Blossom Park; the Pear Blossom Festival Parade starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 12, throughout downtown Medford with thousands of attendees and many bands, entries and floats; the Pear Blossom Run with differing start times on April 12; the corn hole tournament at Rogue X from 2 to 9 p.m. April 12, and the Tour De Pear bicycling event on Saturday, April 19, with differing race times.

Time, date and location details for each of the festival events can be found at pearblossomparade.org.

This year’s grand marshal will be local nonprofit Dogs for Better Lives, an organization that rescues, breeds, trains and places assistance dogs free of charge for locals with disabilities.

“Pear Blossom, we try to have a grand marshal each year that we’re able to get their name out into the community … they’ve been around since 1977,” Mann-Self said. “We just wanted to honor them for all the hard work they do to make people’s lives better, and animals’ lives as well.”

While the festival won’t have any new features this year, planners are busy organizing the multi-week event to be better than ever for attendees, vendors and participants alike.

“For our street fair, we’ve got over 100 vendors again and music on Friday,” Mann-Self said. “The parade has over 100 entries this year again and a lot of cool floats, and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.”

While there will be dozens of floats, fire trucks, vintage cars and more to see during the parade, the festival president pointed out some fan favorites to be on the lookout for.

“Spartan Boxing (Club) always does a fun one for the kids, Rogue Credit Union always does cool things and the school bands — we’ve got seven school bands this year,” she said. “There are a few returning ones that do such a great job; the Children’s Festival does an amazing float.”

The Pear Blossom Festival wouldn’t be possible without help from volunteers, and there will be 150 to 175 volunteers helping in a variety of ways throughout, Mann-Self said.

The festival’s board is run by 10 volunteers, including Mann-Self.

“I think it gives the board a lot of pride to see the community together with these events,” she said. “It’s very heartwarming to see thousands of people lining up the streets and cheering.”

“Just to see the tradition, that people really value this tradition and the spirit of the community, you can see it downtown,” Mann-Self added.

The festival was initially started in 1954 by representatives of several civic groups in Medford such as the Fruit Growers League, Medford Chamber of Commerce, Medford American Legion Post and more.

Former resident Barbara Roddy was inspired by the apple festivals in Washington state and sent a letter to the chamber suggesting to do a pear festival — and the rest is history.

The festival has had many parade marshals over the years including widely known names such as Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Leonard Nimoy, best known for playing Spock in the original “Star Trek” series, who visited in 1967.

The festival is always looking for more volunteers, and those interested in helping can contact the organizers at 541-840-7327.

For more information, visit pearblossomparade.org.

Reach reporter James Sloan at jsloan@rv-times.com.