Sandy's Blog: Rose Bowl Parade - Another Bucket List Item Checked Off

We have always wanted to see the Rose Parade in person and this was the year, so we signed up for the Escapees HOP (Head Out Program). What a great way to experience all the events taking place in the area. We arrived at our RV park in Castaic CA on December 27. Once we parked, we never even started the truck until our tour was over. Bus transportation, many meals, tickets, etc. were all provided.

Our first morning was spent at a float building warehouse working on the China Airlines float. The 28th was what they call "vial day." We uncapped, filled with water, and recapped vials for an hour or so. They needed 31,000 vials filled to hold the fresh flowers as they decorated the float. We barely made a dent, I am sure.

The floats are covered with a foam substance that hardens and then they are painted in different colors denoting where decorations will go. They are like big paint-by-number projects after that.

We gave straw flowers "haircuts" so the cut petals could be run through a household blender and mixed with other colors to make a powder to be applied with glue to parts of the float that would not be covered with fresh flowers. All surfaces of the floats must be covered with organic material.

Here we are applying glue and a powder made from dried strawberries and coconut to the undersides of huge flower petals. Very messy work and working on the floor isn't the easiest thing for us older folks.

Buckets and buckets of fresh flowers ready for being applied during the last day.

At least two people, a driver and a spotter, are on each float. Usually the driver can't see at all and the spotter follows a pink line down the parade route, telling the driver where to turn, etc. Can you imagine spending hours in this driver's seat?

A float can only be 18' wide and 18' high to get from the warehouse to the parade route. The man on the China Air float was 25' high, so he had to "fold down" to fit under the overpass. All floats have a "road test" when they must be driven and use all the hydraulics to the approval of the Rose Parade people.

It takes 8-9 hours to get to the parade route on side streets. They are towed by trucks at 5-10 mph. At 9:00 am on December 31 the floats are pulled out and judged before traveling. About 4:00 am final inspection and repairs are made if necessary. All is ready by 6:00 am when the media coverage starts.

Equestfest is a showcase of many of the equestrian entries in the parade, giving the audience the chance to see their fancy routines since in the parade itself, they can only march along. There were many wonderful performances. Here are the knights from the Medieval Times Dinner Theater. jousting.

The final performance was quite a show put on by the Budweiser Clydesdales. They are so beautiful and we had front row seats. The close up picture as they passed by was not taken with a zoom. It was just thrilling.

Our next event was Bandfest. A showcase of the bands chosen for the parade so they can show off their marching routines. We were all given our own "drums" and we played various rhythms to warm up the audience.

All the bands were good, but we especially liked the Rolling Rock Texas Band, the number one marching band in the nation.

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Boarding the bus on New Year's Day morning at 4:30 am for the second coldest Rose Parade in history was certainly unexpected. We felt fortunate to be filing into our bleacher seats rather than be among all these people who camped out all night in the 33 degree temperatures.

We had great seats and the floats were amazing. I will only show you a few of them since there were 40 floats.

Here is "our" China Airlines float.

This Firebird was my favorite float.

After the parade, we went to the park where we were able to see all the floats up close. It was so fun to try to pick out how some of the components were made. Here are some of the details on our favorite.