Rose Parade floats

Floats for the New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade evolved from flower decorated horse carriages. The carraiges evolved into floats. The floats are required to be covered with plant material, living or dead. Originally Tournament of Roses floats were created solely by volunteers from sponsoring communities. Currently, most are built by professional float building companies, and take nearly a year to construct. Some communities and organizational sponsors still rely on volunteers.

Featured in the 2009 parade were 46 floats, including some new entries, such as Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau's Celebrating Alaska – Spirit of the Wild, Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc.'s Natural Entertainers, Jack in the Box's Jack-O-Licious, City of Mission Viejo's Making a Splash, RFD-TV's Hee Haw, City of Roseville's Entertaining Dreams for a Century, and Vera Bradley's Hope Grows.

Modern-day process

Directly after the parade, floats are stripped to their chassis. Structural steel elements are reused where possible; organic materials and sculptural steel are recycled.

Shortly after each year's parade is over, and the next year's parade theme is announced, the parade sponsors and participating communities start to plan their floats for the following year. A "theme draft" meeting is held in mid-February where builders select their float theme. The Tournament assures that there are not too many similar floats.

Characters and other objects on the float are created as separate elements to add later, consisting of a framework of steel and chicken wire. The chassis has beams and steel rod welded to it to support a mesh cover. The float is then "cocooned" in the next process; it is sprayed with a polyvinyl material which acts as a base for inserting decoration. This base is painted with the colors of the flowers to be applied to the float.

Tapioca pearls and cranberry seeds as decorations

Every square inch of the exposed surface of a float entered in the Rose Parade strictly must be covered with flowers or other natural materials. These other decorative applicants include bark, seed and leaves. Decorating with the non-perishable materials is performed first. In the days following Christmas, the live additions to the float are applied by volunteers or hired workers. Many people end each day covered in glue and petals. Delicate flowers are placed in individual vials of water and set into the float one-by-one. The Tournament of Roses is the largest consumer of flowers in the world, and flowers arrive from all over the world.

Many floats, along with their drive train, include computer-controlled robotic mechanisms to animate the floats. Most float drivers can only see the ground below them. An observer communicates by intercom to the driver. Most observers are hidden within the float and have limited visibility. Each float has a Tournament Member (Float Liaison) assigned to it who shepherds the float from the float barn to the formation area and down the parade route. Most ride on motor scooters although some walk. The Float Liaisons communicate with the float's observer by hand signals. At the two corners other Tournament Members direct the floats in addition to the Float Liaisons.

It is estimated that it takes 60 volunteers working 10 hours a day for 10 days to decorate one float.

Float builders

• 20 daisies, 30 roses or 36 marigolds will cover one square foot of a float area
• Over 500,000 roses (in vials) used in the parade
• 15 tons of steel along with 10,000 feet of chicken wire for the framework of a float
• 600 tons of steel, 5,000 gallons of glue and 18 million flowers are used to make the floats each year
• 935 “white-suiters” spent 80,000 hours to manpower and plan the parade
• Floats must collapse to no more than 16.5 ft. high, to pass under a freeway overpass
• Natural materials, such as bark, seeds, leaves and flowers, shall cover the floats
• Twenty-four awards for some 50 float entries
• Length of parade is 5.5 miles, about 2.25 hours long at 2.5 miles per hour pace

Viewing float decorating

After Christmas one can view many of the floats being decorated with flowery mantles, in the various "float barns" that dot the Pasadena area and communities to the east. Last-minute volunteering opportunities are sometimes available (though most builders recommend advance registration); if you are willing to volunteer, you just might find a crew willing to hand you a box of flowers (or a broom) and put you right to work!

Admission is charged for viewing the floats at the various sites.

Quantity of flowers

While many distinct changes have taken place with the Festival's floats, including computer-aided movement and professional float building, the floats have kept true to the event's title and heritage, by using real, fresh flowers. The cost of flowers is included in the total cost of the float and paid for by the float sponsor.

Post-parade: A Showcase of Floats

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On a 2009 float of the Rose Parade

Presented by Bayer Advanced, the Showcase is a paid admission area where the floats are displayed after the parade, for close-up viewing. The floats are parked along Sierra Madre and Washington Boulevards in Pasadena, near Pasadena High School and Victory Park, for three hours after the parade. On the day after the parade (occasionally two days when January 3rd falls on Saturday or Sunday), the first two early morning hours are reserved for seniors and the disabled, and the rest of day's worth of viewing for the general public.

There were three days of viewing in 2009, Jan. 1 (1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.), Jan. 2 and 3.

A fair-like environment with food and souvenir vending stands is created for public enjoyment. Handicap access and assistance is provided. Some of the animated floats are put on display with their animation running. Unfortunately, as time goes on the flowers wilt and thus the best viewing is right after the parade.

Judging

Three civic and floral industry leaders evaluate the floats and hand out prizes to the participating floats in 24 categories. The top prize for the parade is the Sweepstakes Trophy, the most beautiful entry, which in 2008 was won by Rain Bird International's entry of "Preservation Celebration", built by Fiesta Parade Floats.

The three judges for the 2009 Rose Parade were Richard Koshalek, recent president of Art Center College of Design; Sharon Loving, horticulture department head, Longwood Gardens of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; and Beverly White, reporter and anchor, local NBC4 TV station.

Judging occurs on the two days before the parade. In the first day's judging, the float is viewed "at rest", without any animation, sound, or riders. The float builder is allowed to explain the float to the judges before the judges begin their examination. In the second judging, the float is judged as it will be presented in the parade, with all animation, riders, outwalkers, and effects. Each judging session lasts five minutes.

Floats are judged in 14 categories, with varying weights; the most important categories are those relating to floral usage. Winners are announced at 6 AM on parade day.

The 2009 Sweepstakes Trophy winner for the "most beautiful entry with outstanding floral presentation and design" was again participant Rain Bird Corporation and its builder Fiesta Parade Floats. The theme of the Rain Bird float was "Entertaining Expedition". The "Most Beautiful Non-Commercial" Lathrop K. Leishman trophy went to the City of Sierra Madre and the Sierra Madre Rose Float Association's self built "Bollywood Dreams".

Notable recent floats

Float assistance

• working roller coasters (2003 and 2009 Cal Poly Universities; 1998, Downey)
• a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty (Honda, "The Power of Dreams", 2006)
• a robotic chef with moving arms
• a complete tropical paradise, filled with animals
• a working water slide (1993 La-Z Boy "School's Out!")
• a nearly 100 foot tall Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, 2004

See also

• Cal Poly Universities Rose Parade Float
• Float (parade)

External links

• Tournament of Roses Parade official site

Float construction companies

• Phoenix Decorating Co.
• Festival Artists Worldwide
• Fiesta Parade Floats
• Charisma Floats
• Studio Concepts

Self-Built float organizations

• Burbank Tournament of Roses Association
• Downey Rose Float Association
• La Canada Flintridge Rose Float Association
• Sierra Madre Rose Float Association
• South Pasadena Rose Float Association
• Cal Poly Pomona Rose Float
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Rose Float