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. Continue reading
On Tuesday afternoon I headed back out to Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale to photograph the beginning of the decorating portion of the floats being built there for the 128th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
Unlike my visit of two weeks ago when the warehouse sounded, smelled and looked a lot like any other workshop, yesterday was the first day that volunteers were allowed in to begin the actual decorating of the floats.
When decorating the floats, they begin by adding the \”dry goods\” such as various seeds, husks and cut up leaves and flowers which are meticulously glued into place. I would not be surprised to hear that a significant number of volunteers finished their day with a slight buzz as the aroma of glue and paint definitely permeated the air. The flowers will probably begin being added on Thursday or Friday as the judging will be held on Sunday; the parade itself will not be held until Monday, January 2, 2017. Continue reading
Tuesday afternoon I headed out to Irwindale to continue one of the few Christmas traditions I still keep with; photographing the construction of floats for the upcoming 128th Tournament of Roses Parade by Fiesta Parade Floats. Fiesta Floats creates some of the best floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade and is the most awarded float builder in Rose Parade history; it is no wonder why the City of Torrance has been using them at least as long as I have been covering the event (five or six years).
At this phase of the construction, it is just that, construction. Some of the floats have a few props attached that might give you an idea of what the float\’s general theme might be, but that is it. In a few weeks the warehouse will smell of glue and flowers, but now the aroma is of paint and metals being welded; in other words a shop. Continue reading
Happy New Year everyone. It is New Year\’s Eve 2015 and today I went back out to Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale with the hopes of being able to photograph some of the completed floats for the 2016 Rose Parade before they were moved to Pasadena. While I have been photographing the construction of the floats over the past week, I have focused a lot on the City of Torrance entry for obvious reasons, but New Year\’s Eve is also the day that I meet up with the representatives of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC). Usually I meet up with them at the Rose Bowl, but this year the Miracle-Gro float was also a certified California Grown float, so I went earlier to meet up at Fiesta; it was a good move.
As fate would have it, they were actually judging the floats so all the floats were pretty much completed. That was the thing, when we were last there I mentioned to Tanya that I thought some floats were running behind schedule. Today there were a couple floats that still had scaffolding up for decorating. This was true at the Rose Bowl as well, so maybe the number of volunteers to decorate was down. I do seem to recall seeing more groups in the past.
I was also lucky enough to run into our recently retired chief of the Torrance Fire Department, William Racowschi, so I was able to get a couple photos of him and his fire-fighting buddies by the Torrance float. The City of Torrance thanks him for his service. Continue reading
These photos were taken Monday night at Fiesta Parade Floats when the City of Torrance came out to Irwindale to check out the progress on the float they are entering for the 127th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade which will be held Friday morning in Pasadena.
If you noticed my photos from last Wednesday you cannot help but notice that there has been significant progress made on the actual decorating of the floats. Last week when we were there it was a construction scene with the sound of metal being ground and the warehouse smelled of paint. Last night the construction crews were gone and the troops of people, young and old, were carefully applying flowers and seeds to every visible portion of the floats, and some portions that are not exactly visible to the normal viewer but might be noticed by a judge. Instead of paint, the aroma was predominantly flowers with a hint of glue.
As I was leaving Fiesta Floats last night I noticed another City of Torrance bus was just arriving and it was not until then that I realized that the Torrance buses had been staggered, so I apologize that I left before all of you arrived. In the past, when the city came to visit the floats they were pretty much funneled in and out, whereas last night visitors were allowed to stick around a little more and even check out some of the other floats. From what I have heard, this new policy was very much appreciated by the Torrance visitors. Continue reading
I have probably lost a lot of my readers on this site since I have been kind of slacking; especially when it comes to my annual Christmas coverage. I have been fighting some heavy congestion and going out in the cold night air just did not seem wise. However, there is one tradition I will not slack off on and that is the construction of the float for the 2016 Tournament of Roses Parade sponsored by the City of Torrance and built by award winning float builders, Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale.
These photos were taken Wednesday afternoon, December 23. This is pretty much crunch time at Fiesta Parade Floats since the actual placement of seeds and flowers will begin on Saturday. Today as I entered the predominant aroma was that of paint as the builders put on the finishing touches to the float bodies. There was a significant amount of grinding being done as well; these people will be working non-stop to ensure they are ready to begin decorating as soon as Christmas ends.
I will go by at least one more time so you can see the progress. The Torrance float is the one with the red, yellow and white fire truck. I would like to thank Fiesta Parade Floats and The Pollack PR Marketing Group for granting me access so I can show these photos to you. Continue reading