On Friday afternoon I headed back out to Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale to check out the progress on the floats they are preparing for the 128th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade which will be held Monday, January 2, 2017, in Pasadena, California.

The last time I visited was Tuesday, the day after Christmas. That was the first day that decorating could begin, so all they were adding then was the “dry goods” such as seeds, husks and cut up leaves and flowers. As they are all glued into place, the warehouse was pretty thick with the aroma of paint and glue. Friday was completely different.

As soon as I got out of my car I could smell the thousands of flowers that were being set into place. Let there be no mistake, they are still adding the seeds; that usually goes on until the very last minute.

If you have been following this series on the construction of the floats, you will notice that some floats look like they are further behind than they were three days ago. What it really happened is that things like butterflies have to be set into place, and then removed to be decorated and put back into place.

The volunteers working on these floats are to be commended. Every portion of the float, whether you can see it or not, has to be covered with a plant base (flower, seed, bark); that means these volunteers have to glue tiny seeds on a vertical wall 20′ in the air. It is not as easy as it sounds.

Thanks again to The Pollack PR Marketing Group and Fiesta Parade Floats for granting me access to take these photos. Happy 2017.

Back to Photos of the Decorating of Rose Parade Floats

Back to Photos of the Decorating of Rose Parade Floats

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