In a burst of youthful exuberance, several dozen members of the Los Angeles All-District Marching Band on sousaphones, trumpets and trombones launch into an upbeat medley of
syncopated tunes. Not far away, uniformed patrolmen keep an eye on the swarms of latecomers jockeying for seats in still shady grandstands and along the sidewalks, where early arrivals, camped out on divans and folding chairs and in sleeping bags, pass the time reading, snoozing or in conversation with their neighbors.
Well above the melee, a privileged few dangle out of windows or survey the scene discreetly from surrounding rooftops. Higher still, a dozen strategically placed television cameramen perched precariously on hydraulic booms, focus their lenses on the endless comings and goings of vendors and spectators, while hundreds of feet above them, two blimps hover like a pair of enormous silver footballs in the early morning light.
And so under sunny Southern California skies begins yet another lively edition of the midwinter extravaganza known as the Tournament of Roses Parade. Once it was merely a popular West Coast tradition, but today Americans from all parts of the country increasingly identify the festive explosion of color, music and pageantry of this flower-filled event with the arrival of New Year's Day and its promise of a fresh beginning.
Launched more than a century ago by members of Pasadena's exclusive Valley Hunt Club and patterned after a French flower festival, the Rose Parade has come a long way from its tentative beginnings in 1889 when a handful of horse-drawn carriages and wagons decorated with home-grown rose blossoms proudly paraded about town. More than 3,000 people showed up to watch that procession, and the spirited jousting tournaments and other competitive games that followed.
In sharp contrast, today's mega event, a full 12 months in the planning and preparation, boasts 60 professionally built, hydraulic-powered floats smothered in millions of blossoms, plus marching bands from across the United States, 275 high-stepping horses in full regalia and an estimated 1 million in-person spectators lining its 5 1/2 -mile parade route.
In addition, the elaborate 2 1/2 -hour production, first televised to local audiences in 1947, now reaches the screens of more than 150 million Americans nationwide. And with recent improvements in satellite communications, more than 350 million other viewers in 90 nations across the globe are also privy to the proceedings in live and delayed broadcasts, making the Rose Parade the world's most-watched procession.
Always looking for a way to top its previous offerings, the parade's planners came up with an especially ingenious touch to celebrate Pasadena's 100th annual Tournament of Roses in 1989.
Their presentation featured nothing less than a live, on-wheels wedding ceremony. The happy couple's global video audience ran second only to the one viewing Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's nuptials.
Following a trend increasingly apparent over the last decade, many parade floats of today serve not merely as beautifully crafted flowering sculptures, but also as staging areas for elaborate stunts performed by daredevil men and women to the unabashed delight of onlookers.
In one recent entry, a brightly costumed stuntwoman dangled precariously from the mouth of a 67-foot-tall roller-skating giraffe made of orchids, marigolds, chrysanthemums and strawflowers. In another, eight hot-dog skiers turned in dazzling performances on a 105-foot creation, as they rocketed one by one from ramplike rooftops of roses, orchids and tulips.
Not surprisingly, behind the glamour and splash of the one-of-a-kind pageant lies the well-oiled machinery of Pasadena's pre-eminent civic organization, the powerful Tournament of Roses Association. Developed over generations by some of the city's most influential business and professional people, this 1,400-member group orchestrates nearly every aspect of the complex production and coordinates its 900-strong staff of volunteers.
Nearly three dozen tournament committees painstakingly oversee the endless series of logistical details, which year after year have ensured the smooth sailing of this mammoth undertaking, and regulation of everything from float dimensions and height of trees and power lines along the route to the placement of television cameras and the all-important selection of the Rose Queen and her Royal Court.
But for all the hoopla surrounding the pageant, it is still the cumbersome floats with their fabulous cargoes of fragrant blossoms that inevitably catch and hold the imagination of millions year after year. Each of the elaborate but ephemeral entries costs between $100,000 and $200,000 and is sponsored by large corporations, small cities and service groups. Following the planning stages, up to seven months of intensive labor are required to prepare for the brief appearance each float will enjoy in the international spotlight.
From its humble origins as a stripped-down truck chassis, a float will undergo a series of dramatic changes in its painstaking transformation to exotic floral fantasy. First, a series of heavy metal girders is welded in place over its foundation, swelling dimensions to as much as 50 feet in length, 18 feet in width and 65 feet in height. Then, a resilient skin of chicken wire is spread across the entire superstructure and molded into human and animal figures, buildings, cars, toys and more, in accordance with the float's carefully selected theme.
Next, the emerging creation is topped with a polyvinyl coating through a spraying process known as "cocooning." More precise shapes are later fashioned from papier-mache. Once the float has been painted from top to bottom, it is ready for a final layer of flowers and other natural materials.
But all efforts are not reserved for the float's showy exterior alone. In its hollow interior, workers install complex webs of electrical wiring and fuel lines to feed its vital organs and bring the conveyance to life through mechanized motion. Crucial to this operation is the truck's rugged engine with its specially modified, oversized radiator, built to withstand the parade route's gruelingly slow 2 1/2 -mile-an-hour pace.
A small niche at the float's center, located barely 6 inches off the pavement, is reserved for its driver. With a limited view to either side, he must stay on course by focusing his attention downward to the solid pink line marking the parade route and by following the directions of a strategically positioned navigator who beams information via a radio.
Not until the day after Christmas do floats acquire their scented skins of flowers and vegetation. Inside the half dozen cavernous construction warehouses and in adjoining tents, thousands of volunteers begin the arduous task of flowering the floats. During those hectic days, every visible surface of the sculpted behemoths must be covered in natural plant material.
In a non-stop flow, fresh flowers in dozens of varieties are delivered to builders from greenhouses and fields worldwide, supplying the 100,000 to 1 million petals needed to complete each float. And while fresh flowers dominate the exteriors of most entries, no plant material is overlooked in the search to achieve the most striking visual effect.
xTC Dried seeds, leaves, lentils, twigs, bark and ground spices are a regular part of float design, creating a rich tapestry of shapes, colors and textures. At one parade, pampas grass simulated the velvety plumage of a gigantic eagle, while another year, thousands of golden wheat chaffs were used for the flowing 10-foot-long beard of a Greek god. On still another occasion, hundreds of thousands of meticulously applied onion seeds provided the lustrous black material for a formal tuxedo.
Despite countless road tests, endless attention to detail and other preparade precautions on the part of its organizers, mechanical breakdowns and other unforeseen accidents are not unknown at Tournament of Roses processions. In 1983, for example, an entry inexplicably caught fire shortly before its scheduled appearance. To add to the confusion that year, another creation became entangled in a light pole as it rounded a corner along the parade route, holding up the show for nearly 20 minutes.
But despite its share of mechanical mishaps and near misses, no natural disaster has yet managed to halt parade proceedings, not even a 4.2-intensity earthquake that struck midway through the 1976 procession but went largely unnoticed by an otherwise occupied audience. Nor have threats of torrential rains succeeded in postponing the Rose Parade, although scattered showers have dampened the event slightly several times.
Indeed, with more than 100-plus seasons behind it, the Tournament of Roses Parade seems to be going stronger than ever, while creating a wealth of history and lore in its petal-laden wake. Over the years, leading luminaries in the field of arts and entertainment, as well as the political and military arenas, have taken their turn at heading the parade.
Film moppet Shirley Temple Black served twice in that capacity. A reigning box office queen in the late 1930s, the pint-sized star, decked out in a white ermine coat, helped raise Depression-era spirits as the parade's 50th grand marshal in 1939. She repeated the role once again a half century later, this time with her 8-year-old granddaughter at her side.
At the parade's end when the television cameras are unplugged and spectators have scattered to the four winds, cleanup crews are already on the job disassembling bleachers and carting off the carpet of bottles, cartons, chairs, cushions and couches abandoned to the fates each year, about 70 tons of trash in all.
Meanwhile, the stalwart convoy of floats is well on its way to the final viewing spot at nearby Victory Park. Soon after, the wilting beauties will be returned to the warehouses and stripped of their elaborate fittings. But not to worry. A week or so later, the newly installed tournament president will have publicly announced his theme choice (this year it's "Voyages of Discovery") for the coming year and the round of parade preparations will begin anew.
If you go . . .
For a glimpse of Tournament of Roses floats in the making, visitors can stop by a number of conveniently located building sites, all in the Pasadena area. Four major float builders, including C. E. Bent & Sons and Fiesta Floats, open the doors of their enormous hangarlike warehouses to the public as early as one to two weeks before the parade, but best viewing times occur two days prior to New Year's Day, when fresh flowers begin arriving by the truckload and excitement mounts as the mammoth creations inch their way toward completion.
The Tournament of Roses Association publishes a brochure listing sites, hours and admission charges for preparade float viewing. This list can also be useful in contacting float builders directly regarding volunteer opportunities. Write Tournament of Roses Association at 391 S. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. 91105.
The much coveted 109,000 grandstand seats lining Colorado Boulevard's procession route go on sale in late spring and are usually sold out by late summer. But a Pasadena City ordinance also permits free-of-charge curbside seating for those with an adventurous spirit, who are willing to come early and reserve themselves a spot. And come they do, alone and in groups. By New Year's Eve, early arrivals are already settled in, armed with heavy down jackets, sleeping bags, caps and mittens to ward off the long night's chill.
Once New Year's Day proceedings have come to an end, the flower-festooned floats go on view for 2 1/2 days in nearby Victory Park, where white-suited tournament officials stand at the ready to answer spectators' questions. The postparade spectacle draws 250,000 to 500,000 people, and many consider this
stationary display as rewarding as the main event itself, a chance to view each lavish entry unhurriedly and in close-up.
The Tournament of Roses maintains a 12-month, 24-hour hot line, (818) 449-ROSE, which gives recorded information on both the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. About five days before the parade, the Pasadena Convention & Visitors Bureau offers its holiday hot line at (818) 584-5983 with up-to-the-minute information on car rentals, bus tours, parking, shuttle buses and area lodging facilities, restaurants and tours.