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TIGER NOVEMBER 17, 2022
NEWS
South Pasadena in Rose Parade The City of South Pasadena has been involved in the Tournament of Roses parade since 1983. With preparations in planning, designing, and building the float taking up nearly the entire year leading up to the parade, Tiger looks into the history of South Pas involvement in the parade and the process of creating the float leading up to 2022’s theme “Spark of Imagination”. STORY KAHLEN MIAO, ROSE VANDERVELDE & LINDA YUN
PAGE DESIGN ALLISON LEE
ILLUSTRATION ELLIE NAKAMURA
History of the Rose Parade
South Pasadena’s involvement
Grand Marshal Francis Rowland led the very first Rose Parade through the streets of Pasadena on Jan. 1st, 1890. The parade was originally created by members of the Valley Hunt Club (VHC) to precede the Tournament of Roses event, and was spearheaded by club president Charles Frederick.
The annual Tournament of Roses float has long been a Pasadena-area institution, one that South Pasadena has participated in since almost the beginning of the parade. Going all the way back to 1893, the first float from a South Pasadena organization was recorded by the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses and detailed the Columbia Tennis Club waving from a flower adorned, horse-drawn wagon.
The VHC aimed to draw people across the country to the west with pictures of clear blue skies and brightly blooming flowers, a stark contrast to most areas’ late January weather. According to the “Discovering Pasadena” site, Frederick said, “Here, our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let us hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.” The tactic’s success was reflected by the creation of the Tournament of Roses Committee. The committee was founded to handle the widely attended and rapidly growing event which had quickly increased from the VHC’s original parade. As technology of the time improved, the traditional horse drawn carriage floats transitioned into motor-powered vehicles, and eventually became the elaborately decorated floats of recent parades. Parade themes were first incorporated in the early 1900s. The Tournament of Roses original event featured participants entering competitions such as jousting, chariot races, and tug-ofwar. The event was later replaced by the now widely known Rose Bowl Game, which attracted over 16 million viewers in 2022. Part of the Rose Parade’s success can be attributed to the annual Rose Bowl Game, which first was played on the day of the parade, January 1st. 1902, where Stanford faced off against Midwest Michigan. Stanford forfeited in the third quarter and Michigan’s 49-0 win put football on hold for the event until 1916, when it was permanently added to the Tournament of Roses tradition. The Rose Parade became the first nationally broadcasted program after it was watched by around 30 million viewers in 1952, which was 62 years after the parade’s 1890 debut. Currently, around 45 floats participate in the parade, and over 48 million people watch nationally. Live audience has increased to an estimated 700,000 who gather annually on Jan. 1 for about three hours to watch the parade make its way through the five-and-a-half mile route.
An entry in 1911 marked the first time that South Pasadena entered the parade as a city. A magnet sat on the top of the float bed as particles trailed behind it. According to the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses website, the magnet was said to represent the city’s “drawing power as a thriving community.” South Pasadena’s first themed entry, “American Eagle,” in the Tournament of Roses was created according to 1919’s theme of “Patriotism.” This featured a float covered in plants, flowers, and other greenery which was trailed by a small eagle construction, and accompanied by children dressed in soldier costumes. Other notable South Pasadena floats included the “Festival of Dussehra” in 1959, which caught fire from mechanical issues (the around 130 degree driver’s station inside the float overheated), “Ostrich Races” in 1979, which won the founders trophy, and more recently, “Fishing Follies,” which won the Tournament of Roses National Trophy. In “Fishing Follies,” a massive bear is displayed reeling in a human on a fishing expedition according to the theme “Find Your Own Adventure.” Last year, South Pasadena’s 2022 float “Sky’s the Limit” won the founder’s award as “Theodore” the ostrich jumped from a mountain constructed of flowers. Over 150,000 flowers were used in the construction of the float. The Chevrolet engines fueled by clean burning propane are a far cry from horse drawn carriages of the very first entry. South Pasadena’s current float, titled “A Spark of Imagination,” is on its way to the lively streets of the Rose Parade as hundreds of volunteers and community members work with the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses organization to finish the massive construction effort. This year’s South Pasadena president of the float, Brant Dunlap, will oversee the construction.
The design and construction behind a Rose Parade float Starting in August to New Years Day, Jan. 1, volunteers crowd the War Memorial Museum parking lot to prepare for the annual South Pas Tournament of Roses parade float. Between welding steel and shaping plywood, South Pas’ success in recent years is entirely the product of a few dedicated volunteers. This year, the self-built will center around the theme of “Spark of Imagination”. 11 months before the parade, a committee reviews the designs colicited by members of the community. After the design is finalized, the committee sends the sketch to an artist who creates a final colored rendering and brings the design to life. “We will start soliciting designs first of December for the next year’s parade,” said James Jontz, SPHS faculty, design chair, and committee member for the City of South Pasadena. “We have a form that we send out. When I send out, I send it to every teacher in the district [in hopes of] getting submissions from creative students. But 90% of the time, we get nothing.” On average, the construction crew is made up of 5-6 people. Each member also serves on the committee with various different roles.
“Because we don’t build in a building, we have to work in a parking lot under a tent, and we don’t get that tent until August 1,” Jontz added. “Of course, we try to do little projects here and there, but really our main focus starts August 1 through January 1.”
“Starting from December, we’re there every day… We have to paint the whole thing, make sure that our alarm system works, all our driving mechanisms work, everything of that nature,” Jontz said. “It’s a slow start, but as things progress, we really pick up speed.
Building the float begins with the base. The all-steel chassis is 35 ft long and 10 ft wide. After the head of construction clears the logistics, the crew receives a delivery of steel and plywood and begins the construction process.
As a member of the construction crew, Jontz and other committee members are tasked with not only building the float, but also maintaining it. Guidelines around the float impose limitations on what materials can and cannot be used. As a result, the decorations crew has to make use of organic materials that often attract pests.
One of Jontz’s first assignments was building a skirt around the chasse. Different members of the construction crew are assigned different tasks. While Jontz worked to build the skirt, others welded cats, books, or articulating arms. “We are given a pass and we kind of just divide and conquer to make things work,” Jontz added. As the year nears its end, the construction process picks up speed. Decorators and crew members populate the float site on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On weekends, many work to catch up for inspections. However, the main push begins in December. Constructors and decorators work through the week of Christmas, when many are on break.
“After December, the [containers are] just a disaster,” said Jontz. “[They] are always having mice problems because there’s a lot of seeds and grains that we decorate the float with, so we’re constantly getting mice.” For Jontz, the construction process is as time-consuming as it is gratifying. “I think the fun part of it is when everything’s done, we’re sitting on Orange Grove, ready to go, and everybody’s coming up and going to the parade,” Jontz said. “That’s the best part.”