Lori Page's Posts
Our Good Nature and the 118th Rose Parade
The Tournament chose Our Good Nature as this year's Rose Parade theme to incorporate the elements that make the Parade and the Tournament of Roses organization so extraordinary - the natural artistry of the Rose Parade and the good nature of the people who make it happen each New Year's Day.
2007 marks the 118th year of the Tournament of Roses Parade. This parade started with flower-decorated horse and buggies over a century ago and has blossomed into a worldwide event. All the floats are still constructed using 100 percent natural materials.
As breath-taking as these floral visions of beauty are, I want to celebrate the more than 935 Tournament members and thousands of volunteers who log an incredible 80,000 hours each year to bring joy to millions every January 1st! I had the good fortune to be able to tour Phoenix Decorating Company, one of four main float construction companies, to see the float volunteers putting the finishing touches on dozens of Rose Parade floats. Here's what I learned on this fascinating tour.
Natural materials consist of the usual roses, carnations, and array of exotic flowers you may expect, but did you know items such as onion seed, pepper seed, coconut, seaweed (green and black), corn husk, green split pea, cinnamon, spanish moss, and acorn tops were also used? These dried materials allow the float decorators a great deal of flexibility to depict textures and colors not found in nature's floral palette.
Our tour guide, Robert Carnahan, shown here holding exotic flowers such as Anthyrium and Haliconia, has been a Tournament volunteer for more than 19 years. His energy and enthusiasm rivaled that of the youngest float decorators who worked side by side and told me they were 13 years old. Robert said, "we are very excited with the efforts of all the volunteers at Phoenix Decorating Company. This year we received 13 awards out of a possible 24 categories!"
Desma Murphy - a former Kodak Crew Chief overseeing Kodak's Rose Parade float construction 15 years ago - happened to be in our tour group and introduced herself. She explained, "people might be interested to learn the floats are constructed in a process float decorators, called "petal pushers", call "layering". First dried materials are applied, followed by the heartier flowers such as mums, carnations and green leaves, and finally the floral sprays are added. The final step is managed by a professional floral arranger and all the flowers are housed in their own individual vial of water."
Shown below, "Our Bear Essentials" and "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" were both constructed at Phoenix Decorating Company.
In its inaugural Rose Parade appearance, the National Rotary Association presented a family of squirrels moving into their new home as a rabbit provides notary service ensuring that all of the appropriate paperwork is "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered"!
The City of Glendale has been a participant in the Rose Parade for the past 93 years. On the "Our Bear Essentials" float is a gigantic animated bear sharing the essentials of good outdoor nature with a raccoon and a rabbit as they float along in a canoe. Remember those dried materials I told you about earlier? The bear's coat is made out of dried corn husks in a variety of shades of browns, and it took volunteers the vast majority of December to put the finishing touches on that good natured bear!
This year, in Pasadena alone, attendance was estimated at one million spectators. I was proud to be among the million sharing the pageantry, tradition and good-natured spirit of the Rose Parade with others on New Year's Day!
