Tag: La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association

Rose Parade floats, food, and friendship at annual self-built potluck

On: By: LBM

Photo: Sierra Madre float barn displays name signs from award-winning floats

Updated April 30, 2019 to add Sierra Madre Rose Float Association

by Laura Berthold Monteros

When the six self-built float organizations meet for the annual get-together and potluck, the talk isn’t of beating the others out for Rose Parade trophies. It’s a time to reveal designs for floats in the upcoming Rose Parade that have been approved by the Tournament of Roses, as well as a place for camaraderie among a rare breed of peopl who still build their own flower-covered floats to represent their communities. Ideas, techniques, and food—plenty of it and all delicious—are shared.

The Rose Examiner attended last Saturday’s event, hosted by Sierra Madre Rose Float Association in their float barn in Sierra Vista Park. All six associations had representatives there: Burbank Tournament of Roses Association, Cal Poly Universities Rose Float, Downey Rose Float Association, La Cañada Flintridge Rose Float Association, South Pasadena Rose Float Association, and of course Sierra Madre. The Cal Poly team was represented by alumni, because it was the weekend for students from both Pomona and San Luis Obispo to get together and plan for the parade.

The theme for the 131st Tournament of Roses is “The Power of Hope.” Each float entry must reflect that in some way. The designs, chosen from among scores of submissions, are presented to the Tournament of Roses for approval on theme draft day in February.

La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses 2020 “Dodo Bird Flight School." L-R Sara Wickersham, Ernest Koeppen, Janis Peterson
Downey Rose Float 2020 “Wings of Hope”
Burbank Tournament of Roses 2020 “Rise Up”
South Pasadena Tournament of Roses 2020 “Victory at Last”
Sierra Madre Rose Float 2020 “Ka La Hiki Ola” (The Dawning of a New Day). Ignore the 2019 in the sign!

Self-built floats are usually humorous, though Downey often creates scenes simply for the beauty, such as 2016’s “Exploring the Everglades.” The 2020 float, “Wings of Hope,” features orgami cranes flying over a Japanese garden. The concept was inspired by a project at East Middle School that, like the students in Sadako and the Thousand Cranes, had a goal of folding 1,000 paper cranes to be given to patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Burbank also has a more serious theme this year. “Rise Up” depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes, a reminder of the fires that tore through areas of Northern California last year. President Ginny Barnett said she had friends in the almost completely destroyed city of Paradise. The phoenix represents the hope those caught up in the fires have for the future. She said this design is unusual for a Burbank float, which is usually about fun.

The 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage will be honored by South Pasadena with “Victory at Last.” The victory was the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. A gigantic straw hat decorated with feathers, flowers, and a campaign button dominates the float in a star-spangled celebration of a watershed event in American history.

“We’re trying to be as non-political as possible,” the presenter said. The Rose Examiner hopes that votes for women is no longer a political issue!

La Cañada Flintridge, whose floats are always highly animated, went to the birds with “Dodo Bird Flight School.” Penguins and an emu are also enrolled, but it’s doubtful they will have much success launching off the giant blimp. The emu, strapped to a da Vinci screw on a satellite float, may have the best shot.

Sierra Madre had a model of their float, “Ka La Hiki Ola” (The Dawning of a New Day) on display and will produce the rendering later. There will be a waterfall at the rear, and lots of tikis, and birds rising off the float.

The design draft for Cal Poly Universities was not yet ready, but we look forward to seeing it in the future. Visit All Things Rose Parade on Facebook to get updates on the Tournament of Roses.

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Float Design award winners in the 2018 Rose Parade

On: By: LBM

Torrance Rose Float Association “Protecting Nature…The Madrona Marsh Preserve” by Fiesta Parade Floats won the Mayor Award.

 

by Laura Berthold Monteros

The flower-covered floats in the Float Design category in the Tournament of Roses’ new system of float awards display themes that touch our lives or have specific design elements. The winners in the 2018 Rose Parade are listed in the table below, and descriptions of flowering and animation are in the captions in the photo gallery. It’s a large gallery, but the floats are well worth the clicks.

Some interesting notes on a few of the floats:

  • The Sierra Madre float, its 86th entry, wrote, “Ten years ago we had the first grandmother to drive a Rose Parade float and this year we have the first great-grandmother to drive a Rose Parade float. Kay Sappington, our Chair of Float Decoration, has 13 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, and to top it off, parade day is her birthday. The observer, LaDonna Gaydosh, is a grandmother with seven grandchildren.”
  • The new Torrance rose was featured on the Torrance float. Named after the city, it was introduced last year by the American Rose Society to mark its 125th anniversary.
  • La Cañada Flintridge had its own first. Driver Aram Dergharapetian, at 19 years, 5 months old, was LFCTRA’s youngest ever float driver and one of the youngest in Tournament history. 2018 was Aram’s second time on the float; he was the animator on “Backyard Rocketeer” last year. Another note: It’s said to be the only float in the parade equipped with a data recording system, similar to an airplane’s “black box.” Information is stored for analysis and can be viewed in real-time by the float operating crew.
  • The art department at Paradiso Parade Floats worked  on the Donate Life float Aztec calendar for two months, resulting in stunning detail. They researched and adapted the design to incorporate the memorial portraits.
  • “Make Your Own Momentum,” the entry from Amazon Prime and Paradiso, did indeed make its own momentum. It was the only human-powered float in the 129th Rose Parade and the first entry ever to be pushed by people down the 51/2 mile route. (Quite a few years ago, the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs float was a litter carried by several handsome and scantily-clad young men. It was quite the treat!)
2018 FLOAT DESIGN CATEGORY
Award Sponsor “Theme” Builder, Designer
Theme for most outstanding presentation of the parade theme Donate Life “The Gift of Time” Paradiso Parade Floats, Charles Meier
Bob Hope Humor for most whimsical and amusing entry La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association “Panda-Monium” Self Built, Renee’ Hoss-Johnson, Brianne Johnson
Director for most outstanding artistic design and floral presentation Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Rose Float “Sacrifice to Serve” Phoenix Decorating Company, Michelle Lofthouse

Note: Write up in the Grand Marshal article.
Crown City Innovator for most outstanding use of imagination, innovation, and technology The Grand Tour–An Amazon Prime Original “Make Your Own Momentum” Paradiso Parade Floats, Charles Meier
Grand Marshal’s for most outstanding creative concept and float design Dole Packaged Foods “Sharing Nature’s Bounty” Fiesta Parade Floats, Stanley Meyer
Fantasy for most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination Sierra Madre Rose Float Association “Chivalry!” Self Built, Joanne Garcia (concept)
Animation for most outstanding use of animation Underground Service Alert of Southern California (DigAlert) “Making It Safe for All” Fiesta Parade Floats, Stanley Meyer
Americana for most outstanding depiction of national treasures and traditions Farmers Insurance Group “Honoring Hometown Heroes” Phoenix Decorating Company, Dave Pittman
Golden State for most outstanding depiction of life in California City of Riverside “25th Annual Festival of Lights” Fiesta Parade Floats, Stanley Meyer
Mayor for most outstanding floral display from a participating city Torrance Rose Float Association “Protecting Nature…The Madrona Marsh Preserve” Fiesta Parade Floats, Irene Tsay (concept) & Art Aguirre
Sierra Madre Rose Float Association won the Fantasy award for “Chivalry!” which portrayed a young knight-to-be bandaging a wounded dragon. Sierra Madre princesses sitting under the rose blossom tree are Emma Allen, Petra Shair, Amy Stapenhorst, Emily Verdin.
The Sierra Madre horned dragon’s head moved in all directions, controlled by a joy stick operated by an on-board animator. The tail and wings, and the head of the knight, also moved.
40,000 fresh flowers were used to carpet “Chivalry!” and create the rose trees, including roses, gladiola, gerbera, asters, Veronica, agapanthus. The dragon appears to be ti leaves with button mums.
This gorgeous float for the Torrance Rose Float Association by Fiesta Parade Floats won the Mayor award. Towering egrets watch over the unique ecosystem of the Madrona Marsh Preserve in Torrance, which is home to more than 1,000 species of rare flora and fauna. Monarch wings fluttered.
“Protecting Nature…The Madrona Marsh Preserve” decoration: Trees, 3,000 stems of alstroemeria; deck, 5,000 Santana and Queensday roses; egrets, flake coconut, dendrobium, yellow split peas for beaks; throughout, protea, larkspur gerbera.
Torrance riders: Irene Tsay; American Rose Society Pres. Pat Shanley & ED Laura Seabaugh; Madrona Marsh Preserve Pres. Suzan Hubert & VP Bobbie Snyder; Bill Arrowsmith, Connie Vadheim, Cathie Sinfield
Dole Packaged Foods “Sharing Nature’s Bounty” reflected the company’s commitment to FOOD Share and Feeding America. In a flight of fantasy, animals from around the world come together in a variety of habitats to share the earth’s water, from the waterfall in back to the ocean in front.
A drummer walks beside the Dole float, next to an ocean filled with silverleaf dolphins and bright fish. Some 50,000 Mokara orchids and roses are intermingled in varying shades to capture the colors of the grasslands, lowlands, and tropical forest. Thousands of exotic flowers and 7,000 Topaz roses create the tropics.
Twelve dancers performed a fusion of traditional and modern dance representative of Chile, Philippines, Thailand, Sierra Leone, and Hawaii. A 5-foot wide waterfall cascaded 10 feet down to the deck. Can you spot the macaw and the toucan?
Encircled by a plumeria lei, the animals on “Sharing Nature’s Bounty” were covered in a variety of grasses and dry materials. The elephants moved their heads around. Peeking out just beneath the baby elephant is an orange octopus.
“Honoring Hometown Heroes” from Farmers Insurance Group honored first responders with a parade within a parade. The chief in a convertible, a fire engine, kids on a bikes, and members of the marching band take part in the small-town procession.
The float used 222,300 flowers, including red and white carnations, iris, roses, orchids, delphinium, mums, stock, and gladiola. Among the first responders were real live Farmers agents and district managers.
Riders were David Sewell, Greg Windham, Rick Schnider, Paul Harrington, Christian Slayton, George Wen, Tim Ahearn, Marte Formico, and Dan Brown. The ladder raised to 24 feet, the pedals on the bikes moved, and wheels on the bikes and cars rotated.
Every animal on “Panda-Monium,” built by La Cañada Flintridge Rose Float Association, was animated. The mischievous bears bedeviled their hapless neighbors, a turtle, a snake, and a banana-munching monkey.
It’s easy to feel sorry for Sha Shé (Silly Snake)! Lemon, lime, and tangerine peels created its skin. The pandas’ white fur used 2,200 mums and Fat Choy, a natural black fungus commonly used in oriental soups, was stretched and fluffed to look like black fur.
Approximately 3,500 roses and more than 10,000 other blooms were used on “Panda-Monium.” Various grasses and dry materials, as well as edibles such as fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and beans were used. Three different types of butterflies dotted the float.
These cool cats and dapper dogs may be great at construction, but they should have called 811 before they put the shovels in! “Making It Safe for All” from DigAlert, a free nationwide service that locates underground utility lines, illustrates how a simple call can avoid catastrophe.
The DigAlert float used a preponderance of dry materials for the animals and machinery. Flowers included more than 9,000 hot pink roses and 3,000 lavender and alstroemeria stems for the trees, and gardens of alstroemeria, lisianthus, lilies, waxflower, iris, roses, gerbera, solidago, renunculars, heather, monte casino, liatris, bouvardia, sunflowers, and tulips.
Animation: Crane gyrates and its load swings; backhoe jerks, sputters, and puffs smoke as it twists around; boom and bucket raise and lower; real water and CO2 spurt from broken main; all animals are animated.
“The Gift of Time” by Donate Life demonstrated the best in Rose Parade floats: beauty, color, meaning. The float celebrates the lives of organ donors and recipients with floragraph portraits on the Aztec calendar. Outwalkers carried flower-filled baskets.
A waterfall cascaded out of the mouth of the sculpted jaguars, front and back. Riders included NFL coach Sam Wyche and baseball legend Rod Carew.
A butterfly and waterfall graced the back of the Donate Life float by Paradiso Parade Floats. Organ and tissue recipients and living donors waved at the crowd.
The float was flowered with nearly 200,000 blooms, including various roses and orchids, heliconia, carnations, chrysanthemums, protea, and anthurium. Leaves included smilax, alocasia, monstera, and ti.
At 150 feet, the Amazon Prime Video “Make Your Own Momentum” came in just five feet shy of the Rose Parade length limit. The huge human-powered wheels brought attention to the show “The Grand Tour.”
Each wheel had had different images from “The Grand Tour,” such as hubcaps, steering wheel, tires, revolution gauge, map, landmarks, and ring roads, and featured a floragraph of one of the presenters. The first was Jeremy Clarkson.
Eight people pushed each wheel for 5 ½ miles along the Rose Parade route. We were told that the inner drive wheels were motorized and there brakes for the steep downslope on Colorado Blvd.
Inner drive wheels rolled forward and the outer cosmetic wheels revolved counter-clockwise. Gears, wheels and gauges were animated as well.
Richard Hammond’s floragraph was on the second wheel, set among fiery yellow, orange, and red shades of rose, carnations, marigolds, and chrysanthemums.
James May brought up the rear on the fanciful third wheel. Floragraphs were created with blends of nigella, poppy seed, and crushed sweet rice.
The annual Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside was named “Best Public Lights Display in the Nation” and the “Best Holiday Festival” by the readers of USA Today.
Fireworks and streamers shot from behind the Moorish/Spanish styled tower. The lamppost is topped by the Riverside Raincross. Riders and outwalkers include David and Kristen Bristow; Duane and Kelly Roberts, keepers of the Mission Inn; Mayor and Riverside native William R. "Rusty" Bailey III.
Parrots Josephine and Napoleon, Mission Inn mascots, perch among “bougainvillea” created by 7,000 dendrobium and alstroemeria. More than 30,000 orange roses framed the deck. Flora displays were thousands of roses, orchids, euphorbia, liatris, hydrangea, and amaranth.

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Burgers and camaraderie at self-built float picnic

On: By: LBM

Cal Poly Pomona 2019 float team, L-R: Elizabeth Meyer, Nathan Muro, Stephanie Ferreya, Hana Haideri, Caitlin Yaneza, Wolfgang Breitenbach

by Laura Berthold Monteros

One might think that there would be a good deal of competition among the associations that build their own floats for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Indeed there is, but it’s all good-natured. Once a year, they get together for a picnic or potluck at one of the float sites to reveal the designs for the upcoming parade, talk shop, and share information. Your Rose Examiner dropped by the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn. build site on Saturday to chat with some of the folks and glimpse the design sketches for the 2019 parade.

The floats will end up looking a good deal like the sketches, but there will be tweaks along the way, some by the builders as they work on structural and floral elements and some from the TOR Float Committee. With the theme being “The Melody of Life,” there’s an emphasis on incorporating musical elements in each entry. In the case of Sierra Madre Rose Float Assn., acceptance of the design was contingent on adding an instrument to the float. The team added a koto player to “Harmony’s Garden,” a depiction of the Japanese Garden on the grounds of Sierra Madre Elementary School.

Check out the photos below!

Five of the six self-built associations were at the picnic—SPTOR, Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn., La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn., SMRFA, and Cal Poly Pomona—which form a sort of necklace along the foothills. The remaining builder is Downey Rose Float Assn., which is further south. San Luis Obispo, the northern half of the Cal Poly Universities Rose Float, gets together with the Pomona when it rolls down in October.

We met Janetta Mcdowell, the Cal Poly Pomona Rose Float Director, and spoke with six of the students who are on the team this year. Despite all the hours they put in, they get no academic credit. “It’s a club, not a class,” they said. During crunch time towards the end of the year, they will be joined by other volunteers. Here’s a little about the students in the photo above.

  • Elizabeth Meyer is working on the float for her second year, last year as a volunteer and this year as a team member. She works on the hydraulics, a messy job but one that is redolent with the scents of childhood spent with her mechanical grandfather. She’s studying mechanical engineering and working on the float is her senior project.
  • Nathan Muro volunteered for a year before joining the float team two years ago. He is the design committee chair and is majoring in electrical engineering.
  • Stephanie Ferreya is an assistant chair of the design committee and is in her second year on the float. She majors in biology.
  • Hana Haideri is an electrical engineering major; this is her second year on the float team after volunteering for a year.
  • Caitlin Yaneza works on the electronics on the float as part of the construction team. This is her second year on the team. She is a psychology major.
  • Wolfgang Breitenbach is on the team for the first year. His choice was the deco committee, which handles the floral design. His major is manufacturing engineering, which he simplified for us by saying that it about automation and assembly lines.

Cal Poly Universities are known for engineering and agriculture, so we asked if anyone was an agriculture major. The head of the decorating committee, which is in charge of ensuring that floral and botanical choices are made, fulfilled, and get on the float, is an ag major, we were told.

The all-volunteer associations are very proud that they give the professional builders a run for their money. One of the Burbank volunteers noted that the only trophy designated for self-builts is the Founder Award, but in recent years, self-builts have frequently taken four or five trophies overall. In 2016, all six groups won awards. For long-time Rose Parade aficionados, the self-builts are the heart of the parade. It will be exciting to see how they fare in 2019.

“Three Little Birds” balance on a guitar in South Pasadena’s entry at the self-built picnic. Below the easel is a piñata in the logo of the Tournament of Roses.
Float designs are perched under the bridge that is part of the South Pasadena float site. From left, Burbank’s animal swamp band, Cal Poly’s astronauts, Sierra Madre’s “Harmony’s Garden,” and La Cañada Flintridge’s “Tree Frog Night,” with an amphibian string band.
Nathan Muro holds the sketch of the 2019 Cal Poly float, which shows astronauts rocking out with aliens. There is no name yet.
This little turtle greeted folks at the self-built picnic. He was a spinner on the 2017 South Pasadena float.

Self-builders share picnic goodies and 2018 float renderings

On: By: LBM

At the annual Self-Built Floats picnic on May 6, 2017, folks huddled under canopies to nosh on burgers and potluck.

by Laura Berthold Monteros

Self-Built float associations may compete for trophies in the Tournament of Roses Parade, but there is a lot of camaraderie and mutual aid among the volunteers and students who build the entries. Of the 40 to 45 flower-covered floats, all but six are built by professional float companies. The six associations take turns hosting an annual potluck get-together to display the renderings and share stories. The Rose Examiner was honored to attend today’s event, in anticipation of the 129th Rose Parade to be held on Jan. 1, 2018.

La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association hosted barbecue at Los Angeles County Fire Camp 2, a training facility tucked between the Jet Propulsion Lab and Hahamongna Watershed Park. Tables were filled with potluck sides and desserts while LCFTRA volunteers grilled burgers and hot dogs. A fragrant log fire warmed our hands in the steady rain. It was the end of a typical spring week in Southern California, which saw sunny 90-degree-plus days in the first half of the week drop to 60 degrees for the weekend.

Ginny Barnett, president of Burbank Tournament of Roses Association, shows the sketch of their 2018 Rose Parade entry and describes the animation.
Kay Sappington of Sierra Madre Rose Float Association holds up the sketch of a darling dragon which will appear in the 2018 Rose Parade.
Cal Poly Universities in San Luis Obispo and Pomona build their float in two parts that are attached together in October. The students put in hard work, but have a lot of fun.
Chuck Terhune, president La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association for 2018, talks about “Panda-monium” at the annual Self-Built float picnic.
There’s nothing like a crackling log fire to make a rainy day feel cozy. Los Angeles County Fire Camp 2 was the location for the annual Self-Built get-together and potluck.
What’s a little rain, when there are canopies, a fire pit, and a nice flat lawn? The annual Self-Built float picnic was held at Los Angeles Fire Camp 2, which is nestled in the Arroyo Seco just below JPL.

The six self-builders are Burbank Tournament of Roses Association, Cal Poly Universities, Downey Rose Float Association, La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association, Sierra Madre Rose Float Association, and South Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association. DRFA and SPTORA were unable to make picnic, but we have photos of the rest.