Rose Parade Floats (Page Six)

Did You Know? - The 126th edition of the annual Rose Parade i.e., Rose Parade 2015 presented by Honda took place on Thursday, January 1, 2015 at 8 am Pacific Time with a theme of "Inspiring Stories".

The late Louis Zamperini will be Grand Marshall of this years parade and the parade will feature 41 floats, 20 bands and 18 equestrian units with approximately 400 horses.

Did You Know? - The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses and the Rose Parade presented by Honda, is part of "America's New Year Celebration" held in Pasadena, California each year on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if New Year's Day falls on a Sunday). The parade includes flower-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrians and is followed by the Rose Bowl college football game. It is produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.

Did You Know? - Originally started on January 1, 1890, the Rose Parade is watched in person by hundreds of thousands of spectators on the parade route, and is broadcast on multiple television networks in the United States. It is seen by millions more on television worldwide in more than 100 international territories and countries.

The Rose Bowl is a college football game that was added in 1902 to help fund the cost of staging the parade. Since 2011, the parade has been sponsored by Honda. Accordingly, the car company has the parade's first float, which like all floats, follows the parade's theme.

Did You Know? - Originally the parade featured flower-decorated horse carriages. Over time, floats built by volunteers from sponsoring communities supplanted the carriages. Currently most are built by professional float building companies and take nearly a year to construct. Some communities and organizational sponsors still rely on volunteers.

The Valley Hunt Club still enters a flower-decorated carriage.

The Cal Poly Universities Rose Float still relies solely on students who volunteer. Floats are self-propelled on truck chassis in contrast to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which uses trailer-based floats pulled by new, intact (sponsor-provided) trucks.

Did You Know? - Typically 48 to 72 hours prior to parade day, one can view several of the floats being decorated with 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.

It is a rule of the parade that all surfaces of the float framework must be covered in natural materials (such as flowers, plants, seaweeds, seeds, bark, vegetables, or nuts, for example); furthermore, no artificial flowers or plant material are allowed, nor can the materials be artificially colored. Last-minute volunteer opportunities are usually available.

Did You Know? - The floats compete for one of 24 awards selected by three judges each year.

Did You Know? - Anthurium is a genus of about 1000 species of flowering plants, the largest genus of the arum family, Araceae.

General common names include anthurium, tailflower, flamingo flower, and laceleaf.

The genus is native to the Americas, where it is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina and parts of the Caribbean

Did You Know? - In common language usage, "fruit" normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet or sour and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, bananas, and lemons.

On the other hand, the botanical sense of "fruit" includes many structures that are not commonly called "fruits", such as bean pods, corn kernels, wheat grains, and tomatoes.

Did You Know? - Directly after the parade, floats are stripped to their chassis. Structural steel elements are reused where possible; organic materials and sculptural steel are recycled.

Did You Know? - 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.

Did You Know? - 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.

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.

Many people end each day covered in glue and petals. 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.

Did You Know? - 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 (Float Liaison) 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.

Did You Know? - It is estimated that it takes 60 volunteers working 10 hours a day for 10 days to decorate one float.

Did You Know? - 15 tons of steel along with 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of chicken wire for the framework of a float

Did You Know? - Floats must collapse to no more than 16.5 ft. (5.0 m). high, to pass under a freeway overpass

Did You Know? - Length of parade is 5.5 miles (8.9 km), about 2.25 hours long at 2.5 miles (4.0 km) per hour pace