Tournament of Roses Parade

:There is also the Roses Tournament in England

Parade

The Tournament of Roses Parade has followed the same route for many decades. It starts by going north on South Orange Grove Boulevard, beginning at Ellis Street. It proceeds east on Colorado Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard. Turning north on Sierra Madre, it ends at Paloma Street. In total, this route is 5½ miles long.

Related Topics:
South Orange Grove Boulevard - Colorado Boulevard

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Themes

The newly elected President of the Tournament of Roses has the duty of picking a theme for the forthcoming festivities. Most of the floral floats in the parade are inspired by this theme.

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List of Tournament of Roses Parade Themes

Tournament of Roses Past Themes

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• 1918 Patriotism
• 1919 Victory Tournament
• 1920-1926 No Themes
• 1927 Songs in Flowers
• 1928 States & Nations in Flowers
• 1929 Poems in Flowers
• 1930 Festival Days in Flowers
• 1931 Dreams in Flowers
• 1932 Nations & Games in Flowers
• 1933 Fairy Tales in Flowers
• 1934 Tales of the Seven Seas
• 1935 Golden Legends
• 1936 History in Flowers
• 1937 Romance in Flowers
• 1938 Playland Fantasies
• 1939 Golden Memories
• 1940 20th Century in Flowers
• 1941 America in Flowers
• 1942 The Americas
• 1943 We're in to Win
• 1944 Memories of the Past
• 1945 Hold a Victory so Hardly Won
• 1946 Victory, Unity and Peace
• 1947 Holidays in Flowers
• 1948 Our Golden West
• 1949 Childhood Memories
• 1950 Our American Heritage
• 1951 Joyful Living
• 1952 Dreams of the Future
• 1953 Melodies in Flowers
• 1954 Famous Books in Flowers
• 1955 Familiar Sayings in Flowers
• 1956 Pages From the Ages
• 1957 Famous Firsts in Flowers
• 1958 Daydreams in Flowers
• 1959 Adventures in Flowers
• 1960 Tall Tales and True
• 1961 Ballads in Blossom
• 1962 Around the World in Flowers
• 1963 Memorable Moments
• 1964 Symbols of Freedom
• 1965 Headlines in Flowers
• 1966 It's a Small World
• 1967 Travel Tales in Flowers
• 1968 Wonderful World of Adventure
• 1969 A Time to Remember
• 1970 Holidays Around the World
• 1971 Through the Eyes of a Child
• 1972 The Joy of Music
• 1973 Movie Memories
• 1974 Happiness Is ...
• 1975 Heritage of America
• 1976 America, Let's Celebrate!
• 1977 The Good Life
• 1978 On the Road to Happiness
• 1979 Our Wonderful World of Sports
• 1980 Music of America
• 1981 The Great Outdoors
• 1982 Friends and Neighbors
• 1983 Rejoice!
• 1984 A Salute to the Volunteer
• 1985 The Spirit of America
• 1986 A Celebration of Laughter
• 1987 A World of Wonders
• 1988 Thanks to Communications
• 1989 Celebration 100
• 1990 A World of Harmony
• 1991 Fun 'n' Games
• 1992 Voyages of Discovery
• 1993 Entertainment on Parade
• 1994 Fantastic Adventure
• 1995 SPORTS-Quest for Excellence
• 1996 Kids' Laughter & Dreams
• 1997 Life's Shining Moments
• 1998 Hav'n Fun
• 1999 Echoes of the Century
• 2000 Celebration 2000: Visions of the Future
• 2001 Fabric of America
• 2002 Good Times
• 2003 Children's Dreams, Wishes and Imagination
• 2004 Music Music Music
• 2005 Celebrate Family
• 2006 It's Magical

Grand Marshal

List of Past Grand Marshals of the Tournament of Roses Parade

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Repeat Marshals of the Tournament of Rose Parade

• Shirley Temple, 1939, 1989, 1999
• Charles Daggett, 1900, 1901, 1914
• Dwight D. Eisenhower 1951, 1964 (note that Cpl. Robert S. Gray filled in for him in 1951)
• Bob Hope, 1947, 1969
• Richard M. Nixon, 1953, 1960
• C. C. Reynolds, 1902, 1903
• Dr. Francis F. Rowland, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1904, 1905, 1910, 1916
• Dr. Ralph Skillen, 1907, 1908, 1911
• Edwin Stearns, 1896, 1897
• Martin H. Weight, 1898, 1899
• Earl Warren, 1943, 1955

Queen and Royal Court

Each year, a pageant is held to find out which Pasadena-area girls have the honor of being crowned Queen of the Tournament, or in substitution, one of the members of her "Royal Court". The winners then ride on a float in the parade, and carry out duties in promotion of the Tournament, mainly during its duration and prelude.

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Floats

Originally, floats were created solely by volunteers from sponsoring communities. Currently, most are built by professional float building companies, and take nearly a year to construct. This is not the be-all-and-end-all of the Tournament, as some communities and organizational sponsors still rely on volunteers. Being one of the world's most noted parades, all floats and bands are honored with individual lapel pins. http://sites.securemgr.com/folder59/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=11574&pageid=33

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Modern-Day Process

Shortly after each year's parade is over, the parade sponsors and participating communities start to plan their floats for the following year. Characters and other objects on the float are created separately as pods, consisting of a framework of steel and chicken wire.

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The pod is then "cocooned" in the next process; it is sprayed with a polyvinyl material. This pod is painted with the colors of the flowers to be applied to the float.

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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.

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The float pods are then put on the mechanical chassis of the float. Along with drive train, the chassis regularly include computer-controlled robotic mechanisms, to animate the floats.

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In the days following Christmas, these natural additions to the float are applied by volunteers. Many volunteers end each day covered in glue and petals. Delicate flowers are even set up in individual vials of water, set into the float one-by-one.

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Quantity of Flowers

While many distinct changes have taken place with the Festival's floats, including computer-aided movement and professional float building, the floats have kept true to the event's title and heritage, by using real, fresh flowers.

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The sheer amount of flowers required by a single float in its decoration is more than the average American florist will use in five years of operation.

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Notable Recent Floats

• working roller coasters
• a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty
• a robotic chef with moving arms
• a complete tropical paradise, filled with animals
• a working water slide

Attendance

More recent attendance figure are followed by the predicted attendances in parenthesis. Most predictions are conducted by The Tournament of Roses and the Pasadena Police Department. Actual figures are by the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Related Topics:
Anderson School of Management - UCLA

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• 1980- 2,000
• 2002- 800,000 (1,000,000; drop blamed on 9/11)
• 2004- (1,000,000)

Post-Parade: A Showcase of Floats

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