Rose Parade floats
Tournament of Roses Parade floats are parade floats used in the annual New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade held in Pasadena, California. They evolved from flower-decorated horse carriages with the present day requirement that "every inch of every float must be covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark". Three civic and floral industry leaders judge the floats and award prizes in 24 categories.
Some communities and organizational sponsors, such as the City of Burbank, the City of Downey, City of South Pasadena, the City of Sierra Madre, the City of La Cañada Flintridge and the Cal Poly Universities, are referred to as "self-built floats" as they design, construct and decorate their floats solely on volunteer hours; but most are now built by professional float building companies.
History
The Rose Parade in Pasadena, California happens every year on New Year's Day. The first parade known as the “Battle of Flowers” was initiated by naturalist and teacher of zoology, Charles Frederick Holder, who was the first to introduce the idea of the Tournament of Roses to the Valley Hunt Club. The Valley Hunt Club was made up of wealthy Pasadena residents who migrated from the Eastern and Midwestern states. After moving to California, they became fascinated with the flowers that bloomed during winter. While the elite community began the Rose Parade as a celebration for the winter flowers, some involved in the real estate business used the parade as a way to attract land buyers in Pasadena.Initially, the Rose Parade had challenges with the number of people who attended the event. Since many residents attended church services, in 1893, members of the club came up with a solution, known as “Never on a Sunday” that continues today. Two years later, the Tournament of Roses Parade became one of the biggest events in the city and The Valley Hunt Club was not able to handle the event on their own. Members of the community created the Tournament of Roses Association to take over the annual parade.
Almost ten years since the first Rose Parade, the tournament became a larger festival that gained popularity in many other cities, and eventually cross-country. New technologies were available and made communication and travel easier. In 1898, the first newspaper coverage of the Rose Parade traveled to the East Coast. After the first production of automobiles, the Tournament of Roses Association allowed motor vehicles to be used as floats, as long as they were in the back of parade where they would not disturb and scare the horses. As technology evolved, the tournament increased in popularity. In 1939, the Tournament of Roses Parade was aired locally on television station W6XAO Los Angeles. In 1951, the parade was shown nationwide on US television.
Just like technology, the community also began to evolve. In 1916, the association allowed for Edith Wright, the first woman to pilot a float. For almost a century, members of the Tournament of Roses Association were white males. In 1923, tournament officials decided to invite minorities and women into the committee. Although given full voting rights, new members of the association could not serve the same number of years, serving two years instead of nine. Members in City Hall wanted to be an example of change within communities. They envisioned a more diverse and inclusive community. Advocates, volunteers and community leaders supported the decision.
Tournament of Roses Association carefully chooses participants who will represent their local community. Many floral structures that are accepted each year from corporations, and voluntary associations. During the early parades, floats were carried by horses and carriages that transported local dignitaries and resident elites.
On June 25, the Tournament of Roses Association announced that Fiesta Parade Floats is no longer an approved float builder for the parade.
On December 31, 2024, Tournament officials confirmed Fiesta Productions, Fiesta Parade Float's new entity, will become an official builder and will be approved for the 2026 Parade.
Modern-day process
Over time, contestants began to incorporate unique and original designs. Today, floats are more elaborate and bigger in size. Although participants continue the tradition of decorating floats exclusively with flowers, the use of new technology such as computerized animation, and robots has also been incorporated into design. Some materials also allowed in floats include, steel, plastic, wire mesh and plasticized spray coverings. One of the primary and most enforced rule of the float is that structure must be completely covered in flowers, petals and other vegetable materials such as “seeds, leaves and stems” Some flowers used in floats include roses, orchids, chrysanthemums and different types of blossoms.Float design and construction is a multi-million, year-long process that begins once the parade is over. It provides jobs to many people and demands for big amounts of flowers each year. Much of the labor however is done by students, volunteers, and members of organizations. An average of 80,000 hours of labor is put into the process of floats with about 900 volunteers each year. In 2013, the Tournament of Roses Association reported the roses events had an economic impact of approximately $300 million.
There are three different types of entries in the Rose Parade; floats, marching bands and equestrian units. There are two divisions of floats: large commercial, which include big companies such as American Honda Motor Company, and Kaiser Permanente; non-commercial entries include smaller companies or organizations such as Cal Poly Universities and participating cities. Large commercial floats attract more attention due to the amount of time and money invested. Small, non-commercial floats are usually self-built and often obtain money through donations and voluntary labor. Together, there are approximately 50 floats participating annually.
Since the early parades in history, the 5.5-mile-long annual festival has had a major impact within the community. Themes are chosen carefully, and avoid controversial topics such as politics, religion, sex. Most theme names are broad and simple for people to understand the theme without an explanation. Themes can be interpreted in many ways and designers can get creative and express meaningful, important messages within their floats. The collaboration between the volunteers provides a community bonding that is rewarding to the people involved in the design, construction and decoration process of the floats.
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.
Image:Tapioca pearls and cranberry seeds.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Tapioca pearls and cranberry seeds as decorations
Every square inch of the exposed surface of a float entered in the parade 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. 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 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.
image:TOR float builders.jpg|thumb|Float builders
- 20 daisies, 30 roses or 36 marigolds will cover one square foot of a float area
- Over 500,000 roses used in the parade
- 15 tons of steel along with 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. 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, about 2.25 hours long at per hour pace
Viewing float decorating
Admission is charged for viewing the floats at the various sites. The flower float decorating places are the Rosemont Pavilion and the Rose Float Plaza North and South, in the City of Irwindale, California.
Approximately 120,000 visitors attended the three-day event in 2009.