Rose Parade

A close up of roses used to create a rose bowl parade float.

Spectators gather before the 2004 Rose Parade: some pay for seats in stands, others spend the night to "reserve" a free spot

The Tournament of Roses Parade was established, and first held, on January 1, 1890, in Pasadena, California, eight miles (13 km) north-east of downtown Los Angeles.

Rooted in tradition, this parade is broadcast on multiple television networks, watched by upwards of one million spectators on the parade route, and seen by millions more on television. Starting January 1, 1923, it is traditionally followed by the Tournament's other event, the Rose Bowl college football game.

In 2002 and 2006, when the Rose Bowl Game was also the BCS National Championship Game, the "Granddaddy of 'em all" was not held the same day as the parade; the 2006 game was played on January 4. Not all fans were pleased with the change; some thought the atmosphere and tradition of the Rose Bowl were lost. However, since the BCS title game is now separate from the host bowl, it will no longer affect the date of the Rose Bowl Game, even when the title game returns to Pasadena in 2010.

Since 1955, the parade has been famously lucky and avoided being rained on with several close calls. For the 2006 Tournament of Roses parade on January 2, winds with gusts up to 45 mph (72 km/h) and five inches (130 mm) of rain in the Pasadena area were predicted. Unfortunately, the forecast proved accurate; despite the parade's good luck for 51 years, it rained continuously and heavily throughout the entire 2006 parade. As a result, low television ratings and poor attendance plagued the ceremony. Some floats showed signs of water damage by the end.

The parade is televised on ABC (as the official network of the tournament and the Rose Bowl game itself), but coverage is also available on NBC, Univision (in Spanish), and HGTV (which touts commercial-free coverage).

History

First staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club, the Tournament of Roses has undergone major changes. The Parade has been held in Pasadena every New Year's Day since, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday. In that case, the Tournament is held on the subsequent Monday, January 2. This exception was instituted in 1893. According to the Tournament of Roses Association Web site, this "Never on Sunday" policy was instituted in order "to avoid frightening horses tethered outside local churches and thus interfering with worship services." Thus, the Parade has never been held on a Sunday. Incidentally, the Rose Bowl Game is also not held on Sunday, to avoid competing with the NFL.

Many of the members of the Valley Hunt Club were former residents of the American East and Midwest. They wished to showcase their new California home's mild winter weather. At a club meeting, Professor Charles F. Holder announced, "In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

And so the Club decided to organize their first New Year's Day parade. Horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo matches, and a game of tug-of-war on the town lot attracted a crowd of 2000 to the event. Upon seeing the scores of flowers on display, the Professor decided to suggest the name "Tournament of Roses."

Over the next few founding years, marching bands and motorized floats were added. By 1895, the event was too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle, hence the Tournament of Roses Association was formed. By the eleventh annual Tournament (1900), the town lot on which the activities were held was re-named Tournament Park, a large open area that is directly adjacent Pasadena's world-famous institution of higher learning, Caltech. Activities soon included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations, and an odd novelty race between a camel and an elephant. (The elephant won the race.) Soon, reviewing stands were built along the parade route, and newspapers in Eastern Seaboard cities started to take notice of the event.

Parade

The Tournament of Roses Parade has followed the same route for many decades. It starts by going north on South Orange Grove Boulevard, beginning at Ellis Street. Twenty-four hours ahead of time, the entire environs of the neighborhood streets are sealed off and reserved for the massive parade marshalling of the dozens of floats that are participating. On parade morning, it proceeds east on Colorado Boulevard (Pasadena's main thoroughfare and a segment of the former US-66), to Sierra Madre Boulevard. Turning north on Sierra Madre, it ends at Paloma Street. On going North, the floats must travel under the Sierra Madre / I-210 freeway overpass, requiring them to collapse to meet a specific height requirement. In total, this route is 5½ miles (9 km) long; the assembled bands, horse units, and floats take approximately 2.5 hours to pass by.

After the parade, all the floats are 'parked' in a large open area known as Victory Park, and are on display for at least 2 days to allow visitors to view them 'up close and personal' after parade day. Of course, none of the float riders and dignitaries / stars who rode on them are present. Admittance to the viewing used to be free, but a fee has been instituted in recent years.

Prior to parade day, for the really adventurous, one can view several of the floats being decked out with their flowery mantles, in the various 'float barns' that dot the Arroyo Seco / Rose Bowl area in West Pasadena, not far from the start of the parade. This period of opportunity typically starts about 48 to 72 hours prior to parade day. Last-minute volunteering opportunities are usually available; If you are willing to volunteer, you just might find a crew willing to hand you a box of flowers and put you right to work!^{[citation needed]}

Bands

Top marching bands from all over the world are invited to participate. Many top high school marching bands from the United States can be found, along with college and organizational marching bands.

The bands participating in the parade have also developed traditions. For example, Pasadena City College's Lancer Marching Band always marches in the Rose Parade, along with high school band and color guard students from all over Southern California, who are selected by audition the previous autumn. The Tournament of Roses Honor Band is a coveted position, and those selected are among the best student musicians in California. Nine of the high school trumpet players, selected by performance on their auditions, and the best snare drummer, are selected as the Herald Trumpets, who march directly before the Rose Queen's float and play fanfares.

University Marching bands from the two schools participating in the Rose Bowl are invited to march in the parade. They typically accompany the float that represents the school.

Bands that have a long standing arrangement to be in the parade include:

The Tournament of Roses Honor Band
The Los Angeles Unified School District all city marching band
The Salvation Army marching band
The United States Marine Corps marching band

In 1998, the Washington Township High School Minutemen Marching Band from Sewell, New Jersey became the first band in the history of the Rose Parade to decorate its entire ranks with flowers, in keeping with the practice of decorating the parade floats. Since then, several bands have followed suit.

In 2008, the Alexis I. duPont High School Tiger Marching Band from Wilmington, Delaware will make their 5th appearance in the Tournament of Roses Parade, a first for any high school band from outside of the state of California.

Also, the Tournament sponsors Band Fest, where the selected bands perform field shows at the City College Stadium over two days.

Themes

The newly elected President of the Tournament of Roses has the duty of picking a theme for the forthcoming festivities. Most of the floral floats in the parade are inspired by this theme.

List of Tournament of Roses Parade themes

A chronological list of parade themes.^[1]

1918 Patriotism
1919 Victory Tournament
1920-1926 No Themes
1927 Songs in Flowers
1928 States & Nations in Flowers
1929 Poems in Flowers
1930 Festival Days in Flowers
1931 Dreams in Flowers
1932 Nations & Games in Flowers
1933 Fairy Tales in Flowers
1934 Tales of the Seven Seas
1935 Golden Legends
1936 History in Flowers
1937 Romance in Flowers
1938 Playland Fantasies
1939 Golden Memories
1940 20th Century in Flowers
1941 America in Flowers
1942 The Americas
1943 We're in to Win
1944 Memories of the Past
1945 Hold a Victory so Hardly Won
1946 Victory, Unity and Peace
1947 Holidays in Flowers
1948 Our Golden West
1949 Childhood Memories
1950 Our American Heritage
1951 Joyful Living
1952 Dreams of the Future
1953 Melodies in Flowers
1954 Famous Books in Flowers
1955 Familiar Sayings in Flowers
1956 Pages From the Ages
1957 Famous Firsts in Flowers
1958 Daydreams in Flowers
1959 Adventures in Flowers
1960 Tall Tales and True
1961 Ballads in Blossom
1962 Around the World in Flowers
1963 Memorable Moments
1964 Symbols of Freedom
1965 Headlines in Flowers
1966 It's a Small World
1967 Travel Tales in Flowers
1968 Wonderful World of Adventure
1969 A Time to Remember
1970 Holidays Around the World
1971 Through the Eyes of a Child
1972 The Joy of Music
1973 Movie Memories
1974 Happiness Is ...
1975 Heritage of America
1976 America, Let's Celebrate!
1977 The Good Life
1978 On the Road to Happiness
1979 Our Wonderful World of Sports
1980 Music of America
1981 The Great Outdoors
1982 Friends and Neighbors
1983 Rejoice!
1984 A Salute to the Volunteer
1985 The Spirit of America
1986 A Celebration of Laughter
1987 A World of Wonders
1988 Thanks to Communications
1989 Celebration 100
1990 A World of Harmony
1991 Fun 'n' Games
1992 Voyages of Discovery
1993 Entertainment on Parade
1994 Fantastic Adventure
1995 SPORTS-Quest for Excellence
1996 Kids' Laughter & Dreams
1997 Life's Shining Moments
1998 Hav'n Fun
1999 Echoes of the Century
2000 Celebration 2000: Visions of the Future
2001 Fabric of America
2002 Good Times
2003 Children's Dreams, Wishes and Imagination
2004 Music Music Music
2005 Celebrate Family
2006 It's Magical
2007 Our Good Nature
2008 Passport to the World's Celebrations

Grand Marshal

Repeat Marshals of the Tournament of Roses Parade

Shirley Temple, 1939, 1989, 1999
Charles Daggett, 1900, 1901, 1914
Dwight D. Eisenhower 1951, 1964 (note that Cpl. Robert S. Gray filled in for him in 1951)
Bob Hope, 1947, 1969
Richard M. Nixon, 1953, 1960
C. C. Reynolds, 1902, 1903
Dr. Francis F. Rowland, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1904, 1905, 1910, 1916
Dr. Ralph Skillen, 1907, 1908, 1911
Edwin Stearns, 1896, 1897
Martin H. Weight, 1898, 1899
Earl Warren, 1943, 1955

Queen and Royal Court

Each year, a selection process is held in early October to find out which Pasadena-area girls (ages 17 to 21) will have the honor of being crowned Queen of the Tournament, or in substitution, one of the members of her "Royal Court". Each year over 1000 girls try out. Six princesses and one queen are chosen. The winners then ride on a float in the parade, and carry out duties in promotion of the Tournament, mainly during its duration and prelude. Their duties include attending over one hundred events in the Pasadena area. They usually receive scholarship money and a 30 piece wardrobe; the 2005 Court also received a Mikimoto pearl necklace. During the time that they attend Tournament events, usually from October to January, each girl usually attends school a few times a week for only a few hours at a time.

List of Past Rose Queens

1905: Hallie Woods
1906: Elsie Armitage
1907: Joan Woodbury
1908: Mary Sutton
1909-1910: No Queens
1911: Ruth Palmer
1912: No Queen
1913: Jean P. French (Queen) & Drummond Harrison (King)
1914: Mabel Seibert
1915-1922: No Queens
1923: May McAvoy
1924: No Queen
1925: Margaret Scoville
1926: Fay Laniper
1927: No Queen
1928: Harriet Sterling
1929: No Queen
1930: Holly Halsted
1931: Mary Lou Waddell
1932: Mryta Olmsted
1933: Dorothy Edwards
1934: Treva Scott
1935: Muriel Cowan
1936: Barbara Nichols
1937: Nancy Bumpus
1938: Cheryl Walker
1939: Barbara Dougall
1940: Margaret Huntley
1941: Sally Stanton
1942: Dolores Brubach
1943: Mildred Miller
1944: Naomi Riordan
1945: Mary Rutte
1946: Patricia Auman
1947: Norma Christopher
1948: Virginia Goodhue
1949: Virginia Bower
1950: Marion Bower
1951: Eleanor Payne
1952: Nancy Thorne
1953: Leah Feland
1954: Barbara Schmidt
1955: Marilyn Smuin
1956: Joan Culver
1957: Ann Mossberg
1958: Gertrude Wood
1959: Pamela Prather
1960: Margarethe Bertelson
1961: Carole Washburn
1962: Martha Sissell
1963: Nancy Davis
1964: Nancy Kneeland
1965: Dawn Baker
1966: Carole Cota
1967: Barbara Hewitt
1968: Linda Strother
1969: Pamela Anicich
1970: Pamela Tedesco
1971: Kathleen Arnett
1972: Margolyn Johnson
1973: Salli Noren
1974: Miranda Barone
1975: Robin Carr
1976: Anne Martin
1977: Diane Ramaker
1978: Maria Caron
1979: Catherine Gilmour
1980: Julie Raatz
1981: Leslie Kawai
1982: Katherine Potthast
1983: Suzanne Gillaspie
1984: Ann Marie Colborn
1985: Kristina Smith
1986: Aimee Richelieu
1987: Kristin Harris
1988: Julie Myers
1989: Charmaine Shryock
1990: Yasmine Delawari
1991: Cara Rullman
1992: Tannis Turrentine
1993: Liana Yamasaki
1994: Erica Brynes
1995: Aliya Haque
1996: Keli Hutchins
1997: Jennifer Halferty
1998: Purdy Tran
1999: Christina Farrell
2000: Sophia Bush
2001: Michelle Jacobs
2002: Caroline Hsu
2003: Alexandra Wucetich
2004: Megan Chinen
2005: Ashley Moreno
2006: Camille Clark
2007: Mary McCluggage

Floats

Originally, 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. This is not the be-all-and-end-all of the Tournament, as some communities and organizational sponsors still rely on volunteers.

Modern-day process

Shortly after each year's parade is over, the parade sponsors and participating communities start to plan their floats for the following year. Characters and other objects on the float are created separately as pods, consisting of a framework of steel and chicken wire.

The pod is then "cocooned" in the next process; it is sprayed with a polyvinyl material. This pod is painted with the colors of the flowers to be applied to the float.

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.

The float pods are then put on the mechanical chassis of the float. Along with drive train, the chassis regularly include computer-controlled robotic mechanisms, to animate the floats.

In the days following Christmas, these natural additions to the float are applied by volunteers or hired workers. Many people end each day covered in glue and petals. Delicate flowers are even set up in individual vials of water, set into the float one-by-one.

It is estimated that it takes 60 volunteers working 10 hours a day for 10 days to decorate one float.[1]

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 sheer number of flowers required by a single float in its decoration is more than the average American florist will use in five years of operation. According to the Tournament Association, all flowers are donated.

Notable recent floats

working roller coasters
a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty
a robotic chef with moving arms
a complete tropical paradise, filled with animals
a working water slide

Attendance

More recent attendance figure are followed by the predicted attendances in parenthesis. Most predictions are conducted by The Tournament of Roses and the Pasadena Police Department. Actual figures are by the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

1890- 2,000
2002- 800,000 (1,000,000; drop blamed on 9/11)
2004- (1,000,000)

Post-parade: A Showcase of Floats

Presented by the Eastman Kodak Company with supporting sponsor Bayer Advanced, the Showcase is a paid admission area where the floats are displayed after the parade, for close-up viewing. The parade floats are parked along Sierra Madre and Washington Boulevards in Pasadena for three hours after the parade. On the day after the parade, there are two hours reserved for seniors and the disabled, and a day's worth for the general public.

Trivia

Elliott Smith wrote a song entitled "Rose Parade".
In 2007, a float from Oklahoma featured rock band The Flaming Lips.

Tournament of Roses Association

List of presidents of the Tournament of Roses Association

2002-2003: Gary Thomas
2003-2004: Michael K. Riffey
2004-2005: Dave Davis
2005-2006: Libby Evans Wright
2006-2007: Paul Holman

List of Past Presidents

1890-1891: Dr. Charles F. Holder
1891-1892: B. Marshall Wotkyns
1892&1893: Frank C. Bolt
1894&1895: Charles Daggett
1896&1897: Edwin Stearns
1898&1899: Martin H. Weight
1900: Herman Hertel
1901: F.B. Weatherby
1902: James B. Wagner
1903: Charles Coleman
1904&1905: Charles Daggett
1906: Edwin D. Neff
1907: Edward T. Off
1908-1910: George P. Cary
1911: Frank G. Hogan
1912&1913: Edward T. Off
1914: R.D. Davis
1915: John B. Coulston
1916: Lewis H. Turner
1917: D.M. Linnard
1918&1919: B.O. Kendall
1920&1921: William L. Leishman
1922&1923: John J. Mitchell
1924&1925: W.F. Creller
1926-1928: Harry M. Ticknor
1929: Leslie B. Henry
1930&1931: C. Hal Reynolds
1932&1933: D.E. McDaneld
1934: George S. Campbell
1935: Charles Cobb (Deceased 10/14/34)
1935&1936: C. Elmer Anderson
1937: Cyril Bennett
1938: George S. Campbell
1939: Lathrop K. Leishman
1940: Harlan G. Loud
1941: J.W. McCall, Jr.
1942: Robert M. McCurdy
1943: James K. Ingham
1944: Frank M. Brooks
1945: Max H. Turner

Volunteers

The Tournament of Roses has become such a large event that it requires 65,000 hours of combined manpower each year, or the equivalent of roughly 7.42 years of combined manpower. Fortunately for the Association, the group has 935 members and 38 student ambassadors, each whom is assigned to one of 34 committees. Responsibilities include:

selecting Parade participants
directing visitors on New Year's Day
serving hamburgers to band members at the end of the Parade route
giving presentations about the Tournament to community groups

During the Parade, all volunteers are required to wear distinct white suits. Because of this, the volunteers are commonly referred to as "white suiters." In December each year, a fleet of white vehicles with special "ToR" license plates are seen throughout the San Gabriel Valley. These cars are currently donated by American Honda for use in conducting the official business of the parade.

Each year, an honor troop of Eagle Scouts from the San Gabriel Valley Council, and Gold Award recipients of the Mount Wilson Vista Council Girl Scouts is selected to carry the parade banners down the route.

The Tournament of Roses Radio Amateurs (TORRA) have provided audio and video co-ordination for the parade officials through the use of Amateur radio since 1968. With over 300 ham radio operators in TORRA there were several ham radio sites along the parade route equipped with amateur (ham) TV as well as 2-way ham radios. Several mobile units - including motorcycles and pedestrian units (creepie-peepies) provided the video coverage.

Float Construction Companies

Phoenix Decorating, Co.
Festival Artists Worldwide
Fiesta Parade Floats
Charisma Floats
Self builders: City of South Pasadena, City of Sierra Madre, City of La Canada Flintridge, City of Downey, and the California Polytechnic Universities

External links

Tournament of Roses Parade website

References

^ Tournament of Roses Past Themes

[tor_theme-1] Tournament of Roses Past Themes

[1]