The Grand Marshal of Special Events

The Rose Parade. The Portland Marathon. Film shoots. All kinds of unusual events take place on Portland's streets and sidewalks. For the last 19 years, Allison Madsen has been helping them run safe and sound — with minimal disruption to the rest of the city. As special events coordinator at Portland Bureau of Transportation, she negotiates with event organizers, Portland Police, Portland Fire & Rescue, TriMet and other partners to obtain the city permits that make the magic happen. We caught up with her as she's getting ready for one of the biggest events of the year — the Rose Festival.

Let's start with a basic question – why do these events need permits in the first place? A permit grants you an exception to a rule. Let's say you want to close a road and have a party in the street. That's dangerous — there's traffic! — so we need to protect that space in the street. And we do that with a permit. That way we can close the street with volunteers and barricades, or have police officers allow traffic through an intersection when it's safe. The permit helps us plan it all out. Otherwise there'd be chaos.

Really? Wouldn't people just work it out? Think about the Portland Marathon. They have a start/finish line, which is in the roadway — so we need to close the streets for safety. We need to remove parking along the course, so that you don't have people getting in their cars and trying to drive through the runners. We need TriMet to reroute the bus. We need Multnomah County to close off the bridges, and the Oregon Department of Transportation to close the freeway ramps. Any place there's a barricade — and there's hundreds of them — we need to have someone to make sure it stays in place. We need a traffic engineer to design the traffic control plan and ––

Stop, you're melting my brain! We also need a way for ambulances and firefighters to get in and out, too. My role is to find the balance between what the organizers want to do, and the needs of the public and the City and all the agencies that use those streets and rail lines to get around. These events have a huge ripple effect that cascades through the city. It impacts the bridges. It impacts the freeways. It impacts the transit system.

What if the course intersects with a MAX line? You can't reroute a MAX line. But TriMet can hold back a train for a spell so as not to block elite runners. We work with TriMet to minimize the disruption for big events.

Sounds like a big challenge. Not something that I ever expected to be doing in my career. I've been with the City for almost 28 years, and I've been in this role for 19 years. And I love it. I love my job. Every phone call, every request, every challenge is different. I talk to all kinds of people. We have so many groups, from people who are celebrating their culture and their civic pride to people who are bringing attention to things that are happening in the world. People who want to throw a party and people who want to hold a protest. And then you've got the film shoots. It's truly everybody.

What types of films are shot here? Everything from Nike commercials to TV shows to full-length feature films. Timmy Failure, Pretty Little Liars, GRIMM, Pig. Portland's a very popular location.

Why? We've got the skilled trades – the electricians and lighting people and location scouts and all the folks who do the technical work. We've got historic parts of downtown and an awesome train station. The Gus Solomon Courthouse is gorgeous. They shot Men of Honor there. We've got shiny new buildings with beautiful street trees. We've got a tram, we've got bridges, we've got a great skyline. We've got just about everything in the way of geography – the mountains, the ocean, the river. (Learn more at the Portland Events and Film Office.)

Sometimes I see a street closed off because of a film crew. How does the city benefit from that? The studios spend millions and millions of dollars to make these films, and those dollars are being spent right here. That money's going to people who live here and work here. Electricians and lighting folks and wardrobe assistants. There's catering and rental fees. There's a huge benefit to our local economy. And on top of that, they pay us for the permit. Just one production alone paid over $325,000 in permit fees last year.

So everybody's happy? No, no one's ever 100% happy. My goal is to find that balance between what the studio wants and what the public can put up with. There are times where I have to push back and say no, that's too much. Or let's find a way to make this work. Can we find a way?

What is the most unusual request you've gotten? Back in the old days, the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus used to come to town by train and arrive at the Albina Yard. They had to get all the equipment – and all the animals – to the MODA Center. And they would walk the horses and elephants down Interstate Avenue. Like a circus parade. Elephants! At one point they would walk next to a MAX line and I had to slow down the train because you don't want elephants getting spooked by a train at full speed.

What's your favorite part of these events? I love to see people celebrating together. Parents and grandparents watching their children in the parade. People dancing to the drum corps as they march by, or laughing at the clowns. And I have to say, I'm really proud of the way the City works so hard to support events where people can gather in person. The City and all our partners at Multnomah County, TriMet, the state, you name it. Celebrating together is so important for Portland and for the people who live here.

How many events do you go to yourself? I try to make it to every big event. At the marathon, I stand there and watch every single person cross the starting line. I'm in awe of these humans who have made such a commitment. I'm in awe of the strength of those people who've made that decision, and then they come together and do it. All these people come to see our city at its finest. And it just makes me proud. I get so much joy from an event like Pride Parade, where you can't barely see the parade because there's no room. Every square inch of space is filled with people celebrating. It's hard not to love what you do when that's what it looks like.

Apply for a special event permit

Learn more about how PBOT rolls out the red carpet for the Rose Parade.