Rose Parade Float decorating (15 pics)

18 years ago

All the years Ive lived in Los Angeles, and IÂve never paid much attention to the Rose Parade. IÂve considered it something to turn on and watch on TV for a few minutes if I happen to be around on New Years Day. A few years ago I took the kids to see the floats after the parade. Neat!

This year, DS #1Âs service organization had an opportunity to volunteer to decorate one of the floats. I jumped at the chance since I saw it as a way to get up close and see what these things are like as well as participate in something so nationally BIG!

We worked on the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants, I think) float for a four hour shift, a moderate Sesame Street themed entry. It was created by Studio Concepts, and I have to commend them for having GREAT staff. Everyone was relaxed and laid back. At one point I sat next to and worked with three ladies from Washington DC who planned a whole vacation around the Rose Parade/Bowl! They were having a blast. Studio Concepts accepts individual volunteers as well as groups and they also accept four hour works shifts where other float companies insist on eight hour stints. ThatÂs tough for kids.

There were tons of people there just walking around the float decorating tents, behind barricades. I donÂt understand Â they paid money to walk around and look, while I got to do the same thing (within my tent of 4-5 floats) for FREE. YouÂll see the tourists at the perimeter of my pictures.

Here we goÂ.

Scaffolding. You can see Sesame Street characters on top (donÂt know about the TigerÂ) and a globe of the world under it.

Front of the float. You can see The Count holding out his left arm.

Across from us were two Wells Fargo carriages.

Every once in a while VIP tour guides would come by (white suits) with a couple of higher paying ticket holders.

Back of the float Â this place was HOPPING. There are three or four rows of benches where volunteers would sit and cut flower petals into buckets.

A volunteer putting petals on a ÂnoteÂ. Lots of ÂnotesÂ since this is a music industry floatÂ.you can see the gawkers in the background. It was fun being in the fishbowl, everyone outside looked jealous!

Another volunteer putting grapes(?) on Syria. Each country was a different food.

One of the young tourists called over my son. Apparently she had to interview a float decorator as an assignment. Both of them seemed kinda clueless, heh heh.

I snuck off during a down-time moment to see other floats in our tent.

Here is oneÂ

And I REALLY wanted to work on the Rotary Club float, they looked short handed and it was cooler than ours!

DS working on the right side of the float, on a red note. Look for it in the parade!

I handed my camera to someone to take a shot of me up on the scaffolding working on a pink note (right side of float). Sigh. Both shots out of focus. Oh well, next year!

While I was up there I saw the BIGGEST band group come through. They kept on coming and coming and coming!

After I finished my ÂnoteÂ my next assignment was to cut the tiny blue (NOT purple, I was corrected) off statice. That took a long time, and not much was produced! At least I was sitting, and chatting. It was fun to look up at the ÂgawkersÂ and make exhausted faces and talk with them too.

Once we have jobs, the four hours FLEW. My camera was low on batteries so I didnÂt get to take more shots. Next year!

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Comments (17)

compumom
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I'm jealous! I did it with my kids many years ago for Community Service hours. I worked with that darn statice too!It's certainly labor intensive!
The only thing you didn't share was the fragrance of all the flowers and the enormous tent that you were all working in. I agree that it's an amazing experience that shouldn't be missed!
canarybird01
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Great shots Jessy! I'm sure that was an enjoyable and different experience. Those floats must really be beautiful!

When I saw you cutting statice I was reminded of these photos I took last June at the preparation of the flower carpets on the streets of one of the towns here in preparation for the Corpus Christi celebrations. I still haven't made time to put together my photo albums of this event as I took so many pics. Again as in your photos, fresh flower petals are used to form images and someone always has to pull off the petals and cut the statice...LOL!
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lindac
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
How do they stick the red petals to the "note" and how does it maintain the color for 3 days????
And....with all those flowers being cut and pulled apart...didn't you sneeze? It's making my nose run thinking about it.
Linda C
jessyf
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
LOL at the statice, Ellen and Sharon. It wasn't too bad as long as I was sitting. After a while I got a system down with the flowers and it went quickly. Ellen, now that I think about it, the place didn't smell floral at all. I think because most of the flowers were kept outside in smaller auxiliary tents.

LindaC: the petals stuck with spray glue! We were told to spray a small area on the surface, then stick petals to that. I don't know how they last three days. Also, none of my family has plant allergies, so that didn't bother us.
annie1992
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Jessica, I'm not sure I could say it looks like fun, LOL, but those floats are pretty impressive.

Ashley is looking over my shoulder, she says your DS#1 sure got tall and thin!

Annie
lackboys3
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Great pictures Jessy! It's very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of the float-making operation. Even from the side your son is handsome:-) Were they using GLUE to stick the grapes onto Syria???
DONNA
jessyf
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Annie tell Ashley he is taller than me and weighs 2/3 of me too, he really worked on losing weight. The work is 'fun' if the people around are. I was hearing stories of dry working (flower preparation) where the float supervisors were snippy with some girl scout troops. 'Fer crying out loud, these are volunteers!

Thanks Donna I'll tell him heh heh. Yup, glue. They use a LOT of glue. One job I bailed on was glueing two orchids to a very thin, long stick. Not my type of job. Annie, you would have gone bonkers.
ritaotay
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Ya know, if it wasn't for you guys I wouldn't have a life... Looks like a really great experience Jess... Thanks for sharing!

Don't be too concerned about the blurry shots, makes ya look like a 14 year old... LOL

Rita
wizardnm
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thanks for the photos Jessy, I've watched the Rose Parade many times and wondered how they did some of that stuff... it's hard to imagine the amount of flowers that are used.

Nancy
msafirstein
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Oh WOW and WOW and how fun! I would jump at a chance to work on floats for the Rose Bowl!!! I loved working on our floats in high school.

A few years ago Joe's Rotary Club was in charge of judging the floats for our local high school. Joe volunteered me and I had so much fun.

Michelle
riverrat1
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I wish they had that kind of volunteering around here. I would love that!
dedtired
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I missed the Rose Parade on tv but I saw your float on Yahoo! They had a slide show of various floats, and there was your's! I could pick out your exact pink and red notes -- I think ;o).

very cool. Thanks for posting the pics.
annie1992
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
dedtired, I saw that slide show too, I looked hard for Jessica or her DS, but didn't see them. I did see the float there, though.

Annie
brenda55
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
What a great service project for your son's organization. Too fun! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I've always enjoyed the floats, so it is cool to see the backstage of it, too. Love the pic of your son and the girl...too cute.

Brenda
earthlydelights
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
what an excellent volunteer opportunity. fun and work combined into one.

thanks for sharing!
maryanne
mustangs81
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Jessica, Thanks for sharing, I love this! Your guys are very fortunate.

I don't do parades HOWEVER, I have always been fascinated with the mystic of the floats in specifically the Rose Parade.

I was having dinner with a client in LA and mentioned my fascination with the floats and their construction. She said her company (Unocal76, pre-Chevron merger) had a float in the parade every year (wink, wink, I knew that) and perhaps she could get me on the decorating list.

I didn't let her forget that comment and used a number of business excuses to stay in contact with her. She came through and sent me the application; the whole process was like applying for a job. I signed up for the last three shifts on the schedule (worked 12 hours straight) thinking I would be there for the finishing touches and then stay for the parade the next morning. I was flying in from Florida; DH came with me.

My job was to fetch supplies from the prep center then apply the stripes to the zebra. I glued seeds on to a full size zebra. Poppy seeds for the black and sesame for the white stripes. Talk about tedious. However, it was a fabulous experience one that I will never forget. I strolled around the float barn between shifts taking in as much of the process as I could, seeing celebrates (although, I am NOT a celebrate watcher), listening to the tantrums of the float designers (who knew they had such an elevated status), and checking out the amazing and industrious ways the floats are decorated.

After resting in the hotel for a few hours, it was back to the parade route. My client had gotten reserved seats for us at the beginning of the parade. We watched the parade and were out of there and on the way to the airport before the parade was through. Again, it is a very lasting experience for me.
Lars
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I missed the thread before somehow.

Kevin and I volunteered one year, but I don't think I would do it again, although it was a great experience to have once. I had too many problems with allergies (as suggested), and the smell of the glue gave me a horrible headache. Most of the people were fun, although there were a few people who appeared power-mad and overly bossy. I had to work with rubber cement, which is almost as noxious as spray glue.

Looks like you had fun!

Lars

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Rose Parade Float decorating (15 pics)

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