After living in Los Angeles for 10 years, my friend from Philadelphia inspired me to finally get to the Rose Bowl yesterday in Pasadena, CA, to see the Tournament of Roses Parade float preparations (Video link below). It took over an hour in the morning to get through the 800 number to find out about tickets, times and where to go (it was too late to buy tix online), and then 1 ½ hours to drive from Santa Monica to Pasadena. If you live in Southern CA, you must make this journey at least once.

When we arrived at 4:05pm (they closed at 5:00pm), the ticket booth had closed an hour early, and we were almost turned away. Fortunately, we found a very nice volunteer, John, who told us, “Well if the information line didn’t tell you that we would close early today, I will personally escort you in.” John works at Disney Land, and takes his vacation every year to volunteer at the Rose Parade. With a big grin, he explained, “I’m well-trained to work these crowds.” John added, “There was a band that lined up with 400 people a few hours ago, and then they realized that they were in the wrong line.”

While we waited with hundreds in line to see the floats, John gave us the history of the Rose Parade. He explained that the first Rose Parade was developed in 1890 by the Pasadena Valley Hunt Club to attract tourists who wanted to see roses in January. The first football game was a flop so they switched to chariot and ostrich races. They later tried football again, and built the Rose Bowl arena, and it was a big hit. Tomorrow’s game is Wisconsin Badgers versus TCU (Wisconsin is favored.)

In this Rose Parade Prep Video, you’ll see glimpses of the 800 volunteers who donate 6,000 hours of their time to prepare the decorations and apply them to floats. You’ll also see the Teddy Bear Float built as a Rotary International project funded by generous contributions of members in the US and Canada. For more info, visit http://rotaryfloat.org

On New Year’s Day, the Rose Parade is viewed by approximately 1 million people in person (which may include me tomorrow if I can get up that early.) The TV viewing audience is 40 million in the US and 300 million worldwide. Happy New Year to all, and many thanks to our Rose Parade volunteers!

 © Liz H Kelly, Great Love Reporter, Great Life Great Love, http://greatlifegreatlove.com