Rose Parade floats

What it is

Several dozen floats take part each year, entered by companies, cities, charities and universities. Some are built by professional firms and some by volunteers. The route is about five and a half miles long and the parade lasts around two hours. When 1 January falls on a Sunday the parade moves to Monday, 2 January, a custom that goes back to the 1890s. A college American football game, the Rose Bowl, follows in the afternoon. The organiser is the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, a volunteer association.

Where it comes from

Members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club held the first parade on 1 January 1890. Many of them had moved from the cold eastern and midwestern states, and they wanted to advertise a place where flowers bloomed and oranges ripened in midwinter. They decorated their horse drawn carriages with fresh blooms and held games in the afternoon. The event grew quickly, motor floats arrived, and a separate association was formed to run it. Television later carried it to a national audience.

How it is made

A float starts as a steel frame on a chassis, shaped with wire mesh and sprayed with a foam skin. The surface is painted in the colours of the final covering. Dry materials go on first, in the weeks before: seeds, beans, rice, ground petals, coconut, seaweed, bark. Fresh flowers are added in the last few days of December by large crews of volunteers. Delicate blooms such as roses and orchids are set one by one in small water vials pushed into the foam.

How to take part

1. Watch free from the pavement along Colorado Boulevard, or buy a grandstand seat in advance.
2. Many people camp on the pavement overnight to hold a place. Check the city's rules first.
3. In the days before the parade, buy a ticket to a float decorating site to watch the work.
4. After the parade, the floats are parked on display for close viewing.

Good manners

• Do not touch the floats at the post-parade display. The flowers are fragile.
• Stay behind the line painted on the road along the route.

The flowers

RoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many coloursChrysanthemumAutumn-blooming flower with thousands of varieties, cherished in East Asia and beyondCarnationA fragrant flower with ruffled petals, grown worldwide for decoration and meaningGerberaBright daisy-like blooms from South Africa, popular in gardens and bouquetsIrisA large group of perennial flowers with striking, six-lobed blooms

Also part of it, and being written: Rose Parade, Orchidaceae.

Sources and further reading

• Rose Parade on Wikipedia
• Pasadena Tournament of Roses