Rose Parade 2024: Locally funded. No corporate sponsors. Meet the six ‘self-built’ local floats (2024)

What makes the six self-built floats of the 2024 Rose Parade, err, different from the rest?

Well, there are no corporate sponsors. This classification means these floats are financed, constructed and decorated completely by volunteers. Usually, the float design is the brain child of a local resident. Oh, let’s not forget fundraising, a key aspect of the home-grown, self-built floats.

In short, these six are not built by commercial float builders as are all the other floats in the parade.

When the self-builts glide down 5 1/2 miles of Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1, bedecked in roses, carnations, mums and you name it, they may not appear that different from the commercially built floats. But there are notable nuggets that make these so-called legacy floats stand out. And some of the volunteers have stories to tell:

•Burbank Tournament of Roses Association — “Caterpillar Melody:” The name says it all. The float features an oversized caterpillar ready to take flight, stopping before its metamorphosis to first play a song on a harp, entertaining nearby butterflies and wildflowers.

The group has been participating in the Rose Parade for 91 years. Designs are accepted from all over the country. The winning design is voted on by the Association.

The community gets to see the transition from pods with wire mesh to a floating 3-D floral display. A few weeks ago, the builders took the bare bones float out for a test drive on Flower Street. They performed the required fire drill where everyone has to leave the float in 45 seconds, said Jon Reeves, a volunteer.

Make no mistake, even these self-built float nonprofits go all out to get the best flowers, materials and erect the most noteworthy mechanical critters that make their designs come to life.

Of the 40,000 flowers covering this float, the musical notes around the “City of Burbank” sign will be adorned with 9,000 burgundy baccara roses tinged in black and imported from Ecuador, said Linda Cozakos, president of the Association.

• Cal Poly Universities — “Shock N’ Roll: Powering the Musical Current:” The float is built by students from both campuses, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The two student bodies each build their half and bring them together in Pasadena, fulfilling the mathematical principal that two halves make a whole.

This is the only student designed and built float in the parade. And the 2024 entry marks the 75th float from the twin Cal Poly universities. This year’s float showcases a community of eels and rays living in a sea of electric instruments, moving and gyrating thanks to a brand new animation system.

Cash contributions come from alumni and many flowers are donated by local orchards or by flower-importing companies, said Cynthia Peters, spokesperson for Cal Poly Pomona.

Part of the educational underwire of this annual achievement comes from a year-long field lab emphasizing hands-on student learning, from engineering and business to landscape architecture and project management, Peters said.

“This program has changed my life in a 100% positive way,” said Matthew Rodarte, 21, an electrical engineering student from Pomona and Cal Poly Rose Float president on Friday, Dec. 22. “The opportunity to learn how to work as a team, doing things that are inter-disciplinary; there are very few places where you can get that kind of experience.”

“These are incredible skills they are learning,” Peters added.

• Downey Rose Float Association —“Rhythm of the Caribbean:” Their first entry in the parade was 110 years ago, in 1913. Later, in 1954, the Association was formed and they’ve been sending their selfies on wheels down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day every year since then.

Though you won’t see them on Jan. 1, a look behind the floral display of animatronic butterflies, frolicking flamingos and a lagoon syncing to the beat of Caribbean music played by a steel-drum band are civic-minded people who say the floats have put Downey on the map.

They are doctors, teachers, merchants, engineers, lawyers, secretaries, bankers, accountants, police officers, students, retirees and even a handful of politicians, according to the group’s description of the volunteers.

“The difference between a professional float builder and a self float builder is we do it for the pure love of being creative. We are not in it for the money,” explained Kelley G. Roberts Jr., construction manager who has worked on Downey’s floats for 44 years.

Aside from his technical duties, Roberts likes to have fun. He twice road the roller coaster on Downey’s floats, in 2000 and in 2017.

Roberts said “making something out of a drawing” sums up the all-volunteer effort. “There is no hobby store to go and buy these parts. We will take a picture and make every one of those components by hand,” Roberts said on Thursday, Dec. 21.

•La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association — “Flower Power:” The suburban city at the base of the Verdugo Mountains northwest of Pasadena is a relatively late bloomer to this parade, having formed its float-building association in 1978.

The group focuses on “whimsical, humorous and animated” floats and this one — its 45th float — is no exception.

The 2024 float depicts a 1960s-era hippie bus with flowers, peace signs and other iconic markers featuring the music from “The Summer of Love.” Four giant flowers play rock instruments while traveling on a cutaway school bus. The concept “explores the theme that striving for peace and love never go out of fashion,” according to the Rose Parade website.

Pam Wiedenbeck, vice president of float development, cut her teeth on float building wielding a welding gun in order to position steel rods that stood up a 7-foot pooch for the 2014 entry “Dog Gone.”

“It got me out from behind a computer,” said the former corporate IT director. “These La Cañada people taught me how to weld, build characters and use my hands,” she said from the parking lot of Flintridge Prep High School, the float’s building lab, on Friday, Dec. 22.

The float will need 50,000 flowers, of which around 80% are roses, she said. The group raised $150,000 to pay for the materials. Of course, the labor is free. She said the group includes many space nerds who work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in LCF, on the border with Pasadena. “It gives La Cañada Flintridge an international window where we can show the spirit of the community,” she said.

•Sierra Madre Rose Float Association — “Enchanted Music Box:” For many, music appreciation started with our first music box, which were created in the 1700s. In this case, the horses are spinning around and floating up and down — but one of them has been magically transported beyond the carousel and into the future.

Among the 40,000 flowers on this float, of those, 11,000 are roses.

The group is proud to be building its 92nd float for this parade, all from a tight-knit group of volunteers representing a small city of 10,000 people. They rely on a core of about 12 volunteers, said Kay Sappington, who heads up decorations.

“We are the littlest guy in the parade and we have the lowest budget,” she said. “We build it for about $45,000, which is way lower than any other self-built float.” They receive zero dollars from the city of Sierra Madre and rely 100% on donations, she added.

Economizing includes re-using the chassis and engines that move the float down the boulevard year after year. They even re-use the flower vials, said Sappington, 78, who has been building floats for the group for 29 years.

“It’s all about the sense of accomplishment,” she concluded.

• City of South Pasadena — “Boogie Fever:” The South Pasadena Tournament of Roses has been raising funds to construct and decorate floats since 1893, making it the oldest self-built entry in the parade.

The float depicts a group of animals enjoying music, after finding a vintage turntable and musical instruments that fell off a delivery truck. The 1970s disco hit “Boogie Fever” will be playing on the record player.

Also, South Pas likes to keep it local, local.

For example, many of the flowers and dry materials were collected locally, including two types of bark (eucalyptus and melaleuca), plus sycamore leaves, liquid amber leaves and bougainvillea flowers. The idea is to get the community involved and to save some money.

Speaking of money, the group needs to raise $150,000 to pay for the float. So far, they are doing it the local way with yards sales, a golf tournament and selling sweets. “We have sold a lot of candy,” said Sally Kilby, a spokesperson for the group.

On Dec. 27, they’re having an online auction of 70 different items, including concert tickets, services and lessons, Kilby said. To participate go to: auctria.events/sptorcrunch. The city has spotted them with $12,000, according to Ed Donnelly, SPTOR president.

It’s crunch time and the volunteers are working up to three shifts a day in a tent erected in a parking lot. Last year, when it rained, the tent leaked. So far, no leaks this year but work done outside the tent has been delayed a bit, said Sharon Mitchell, whose been decorating for the past nine years and has enjoyed meeting other decorators, including volunteers from Spain and Greece.

“We do it to keep the longest tradition in the city going. It is for community pride,” said Janet Benjamin, a 15-year volunteer. “It shows how much we love South Pas.”

SCNG staff writer Jerry Rice contributed to this article.