Rose Parade, 2014 (Photo – W.K.)
Did you know?
1- Flowers will be placed on floats late to offset the warm weather and keep them fresh.
2- A gay couple will get married atop the 2014 AIDS Healthcare Foundation float.
3- Close to 750,000 people are estimated to attend the Rose Parade, and the celebration will air live on eight networks to more than 56 million viewers. The parade will also be televised in 174 countries, which will attract an additional 28 million viewers.
4- There will be almost 1,000 of “white suiters” -the ones that wear all-white suits and red neckties- fanning out across Pasadena on New Year’s Day making sure the parade goes smoothly.
5- The parade floats will arrive on-site before midnight, get lined up and then park in the middle of the closed street.
6- A “white suiter”, who gets assigned as an overnight float protection keeping cars from entering the float formation area, will prevent anyone in a car from entering -except for brain surgeons on the way to perform brain surgery!
7- The Tournament of Roses has more than 20 committees, each supporting a different element of the parade and the Rose Bowl game.
8- The Tournament takes care of its people. Throughout the long night, a van will come around constantly with coffee, hot chocolate and snacks.
9- The night before the event will be a chilly one. (As a native Southern Californian, you should never use the word “cold” unless you want to be reprimanded by Eastern visitors).
10- In addition to the use of traditional flowers, some floats’ designs will sprout palm tree fiber, kidney beans, orange lentils, crushed sweet rice, and black pepper seed to name a few.
11- Float liaisons (the ones who ride a white scooter, wear a white helmet and escort the floats along the route) spent 10 Saturday mornings between June and December directing traffic so that floats can safely road-test their engines and animation effects.
12- The 2014 Rose Parade will feature 20 marching bands and 15 equestrian units.
13- The Valley Hunt Club, which organized the first tournament and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2013, will be among the equestrian units in the 2014 parade.
14- PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has asked Tournament officials to require SeaWorld to change its float for its inaccurate representation of the orcas at SeaWorld. SeaWorld have not responded to the said request to cancel or alter their float.
15- The Rose Queen for 2014 is named Ana Marie Acosta and along with six Rose Princesses consist of the Royal Court.
16- The Royal Court was chosen from a pool of 30 finalists, which were part of a larger pool of almost 1,000 young women, and few young men!
17- There will be emphasis on performances rather than just walking along the parade route.
18- The newly elected president of the tournament, R. Scott Jenkins, is promising a more exciting event as he cut the number of bands from 23 to 20, equestrian performances from 21 to 15 and increased the number of floats to 45.
19- Vin Scully, the longtime Dodgers play-by-play broadcaster, will have a “marvelous” time as he will be the Grand Marshall of the event.
20- A lot of volunteers put this incomparable parade together for you. They don’t get paid. Your smile is their pay. Smile and know you will have a great time!
How long will the parade take from the Grand Marshall to the end? Is there a final float, similar to Santa’s sleigh in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
1- Traditionally, the parade (the assembled bands, horse units and floats) take approximately two hours to pass by.
2- The XPOGO Stunt Team will close the Parade (they have 14 Guinness World Records to their name.)