History of the Parade

In 1997, Rena Adamek began planning the Oregon City Teddy Bear Parade. Rena saw the need for a community effort for our children. She worked with community leaders to create an event that focused on our children as well as the outstanding services our Emergency personnel provided. After some investigation, the idea for the parade was brought to fruition. The First Teddy Bear Parade took place on May 16th, 1998. The first Grand Marshall was Brad Smith and the first Jr. Grand Marshall was Rocky Smith Jr. Seven years later in 2004, the parade was officially named the Teddy Bear Parade of Clackamas County and became a project of The Children's Center of Clackamas County. After the parade in 2006, the Childrens Center turned the parade over to  Rocky Smith Jr. who Coordinated the Parade's 10th Birthday in 2007. The 2008 parade will take place May 10th, 2008.

Why the Parade Was Started:

The parade was born out of three distinct needs of the Oregon City Community:

• The city has been without a community parade for over a decade.
• The community was in need of a positive event focusing on children.
• The emergency services in this community did not have enough “TLC” resources to meet the needs of the children they come in contact with in high-risk situations. They did not have a discretionary budget to purchase these types of items, so we decided to do it for them.