Everyone loves a parade and I’m no exception. For the past 10 years, I’ve been privileged to lead tours to the Rose Parade and the many exciting events surrounding its production: Float Viewing, Band Fest, Volunteer Float Making, and the premiere event itself The Tournament of Roses Parade followed by the Rose Bowl Game and Float Fest at Pasadena High School. It feels like the entire City of Pasadena is on board for this New Year’s Day historic event that goes back, well, one hundred thirty six years!

It’s thrilling. Anticipation mounts as we look to the west for the silent approach of Stealth. Not a sound until “WHOOSH”, it races across the sky overhead and disappears like a phantom to the east. The motorcade, all in white, appears over the rise where Orange Grove turns to meet Colorado and the crowd comes alive!

This year’s theme was “Best Day Ever” with the incomparable Billy Jean King as Grand Marshall. I tear up every year, watching these beautiful creations pass by, their creators, dignitaries and ordinary citizens waving out to us. One of the cornerstones of the Parade since 1905 is the Rose Queen and Rose Court - seven extraordinary young women chosen from local high school seniors who will serve as ambassadors in their communities representing the spirit of the Tournament of Roses.

With all this excitement however, it didn’t take long for me to realize the one missing element that goes along with being AT the parade rather than WATCHING the parade from the comfort of a couch at home: there’s no commentary when you’re LIVE! Lesson: the Official Souvenir Program is your go-to “Order of March” guide and it’s worth the 10 bucks you can pay hawkers throughout the venue; I like a pre-parade bacon wrapped hotdog with grilled onions, jalapeño and mustard I buy each year from the same street vendor.

The best photos and back-stories are to be found at Float Fest. After the parade makes its way the five-mile route east along Colorado Blvd, they position at Pasadena High School near Victory Park (where they were traditionally on view). The floats are on display over 3 or 4 days as long as the flowers hold up. A piece of advice I recommend to my guests is ”Pace Yourself” – Parade Day is a long one and the gates at Float Fest aren’t opened until the Fire Marshall inspects the entire grounds and signs off on each float.

The Rose Parade begins at 8:00 running until10:00. Float Fest gates open usually by 1:30pm. Tickets this year were $25 and are well worth it. Representatives at each float are knowledgeable on every aspect of the float design: types of flowers, seeds, fruits and grains used to create their illusion. And sometimes you can peek inside for a glimpse of the driver’s seat. All together, it’s an experience of a lifetime and many of my guests say it’s on their bucket list. I would agree.

Never on Sunday – the first Tournament of Roses began January 1,1890 to promote the temperate Mediterranean climate of Southern California. The first parade was an affair of fancy horse-drawn carriages decorated with flowers; a tradition was established that continued unbroken except for three years during World War II and in 2021 due to the corona virus. One tradition that remains steadfast is Never on Sunday; promoters didn’t want to disturb the horses and carriages of folks attending church so the parade was moved over one day to Monday, January 2nd.

City of Hope float up close. Float Fest is the opportunity to get detailed information about each float and where the best photos can be taken.

Float Makers – anyone can volunteer to help decorate the floats for the day. This is serious business and I’ve not done it but reports back tell me it’s a full 8 hours of hard work (lunch is provided), lots of glue and tedious petal-by-petal, seed-by-seed application. Carefully planned instruction must be followed to the letter or remove and begin again.

Band Fest is a multi-day schedule of performances by the various bands participating in the Parade held outside at Pasadena City College, final rehearsal for the Big Day!

Behind the Scenes – the scale of Rose Parade is all encompassing; year-round contributions from the community and over 80,000 hours of hands-on service and volunteer work in preproduction make for a smooth running event Parade Day. Float judges have made their choices, security teams and float technical inspectors are on hand and the ever-present Pooper Scoopers (in costume as well) follow behind the many equestrian teams.

Rose Parade 2026 – float design for the next year’s Rose parade and reservations for tours and grandstand seating begin the very next day, January 2, 2025!

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Lynne LaFleur attended Malaga Cove School, Lunada Bay Elementary, and Chadwick School, received her BFA from Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn and has lived in New York City, Colorado and Northern California before returning to Palos Verdes in the late 1980s.

For more information, please contact Lynne at “lynnelf1@gmail.com”- The Centennial Celebration poster and all the individual illustrations (both as fine art giclée prints and as educational posters) are available for purchase from her website: www.lynnelafleur.com Facebook: LynneLaFleurArtist Instagram: “lynnelf1”