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Fiesta Parade Floats of the 2017 Rose Parade – The Flowers Go On

Published December 30, 2016 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged 128th Annual Tornament of Roses Parade, 128th Tournament of Roses Parade, Fiesta Parade Floats, Irwindale, Photos, Rose Parade, The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Torrance Rose Float Association, Tournament of Roses | 1 Comment

Decorating of the 2017 Rose Parade Floats Begins

Published December 28, 2016 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged 128th Annual Tornament of Roses Parade, 128th Tournament of Roses Parade, City of Torrance, Fiesta Parade Floats, Irwindale, Photos, Rose Parade, The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Torrance Rose Float Association | 1 Comment

2017 Rose Parade Float Construction Begins

Published December 14, 2016 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged 128th Annual Tornament of Roses Parade, 128th Tournament of Roses Parade, City of Torrance, Fiesta Parade Floats, Irwindale, Photos, The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Torrance Rose Float Association, Tournament of Roses | 1 Comment

Torrance Education Foundation Recognizes Local Teachers

Published November 30, 2016 | By Lloyd Brown

These photos were taken Tuesday evening at Edelbrock\’s, Vic\’s Garage in Torrance, where the Torrance Education Foundation held a recognition and appreciation reception for Torrance school teachers that had applied for and received STEM grants.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math; which are all subjects that American students need to excel in if we are to compete in tomorrow\’s world. The Foundation awarded 48 grants totaling $39,500 for K-12 enrichment projects: Family STEM Nights, CyberPatriots, Hour of Code, After-School Engineering Club, Math Counts, Science Olympiad, and Robotics. The teachers recognized at the event are doing their part to see that happens by receiving these grants that give them the money to provide a little more to their students. Continue reading →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged Christi Edelbrock, Edelbrock Family Foundation, Photos, Red Car Brewery, STEM grants, Torrance, Torrance Education Foundation, Torrance Unified School District, Vic's Garage | Leave a comment

Floats of the 127th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade

Published December 31, 2015 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged 127th Tournament of Roses Parade, Adrienne Young Communications, Cal Poly Universities, California Cut Flower Commission, CCFC, City of Torrance, Fiesta Parade Floats, FTD, happy new year, Irwindale, Photos, pictures, Rose Bowl, The Pollack PR Marketing Group | Leave a comment

Torrance visits Fiesta Parade Floats

Published December 29, 2015 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged 127th Tournament of Roses Parade, City of Torrance, Fiesta Parade Floats, iReportCNN, Irwindale, Photos, Rose Parade, The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Tournament of Roses | Leave a comment

Float Construction at Fiesta Parade Floats

Published December 23, 2015 | By Lloyd Brown

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 →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged City of Torrance, Fiesta Parade Floats, Irwindale, Photos, The Pollack PR Marketing Group, Tournament of Roses | Leave a comment

4th Annual Torrance Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival

Published March 16, 2015 | By Lloyd Brown

These photos were taken Sunday, March 15 at the 4th Annual Torrance Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival, which was held in the southeast corner of Columbia Park in Torrance. The free, family friendly event was sponsored in part by the City of Torrance, the North Torrance Homeowners Association, the Torrance Sister City Association, Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild, and Soka Gakkai International-Buddhist Association for Peace, Culture and Education. Entertainment was provided by Susan Mann’s Wahine Ilikea Dancers performing Polynesian dances, O-Edo Ichi-Za performing traditional Japanese fan dances, and Myo’on Taiko drumming. There were also several food trucks available and one of them even sold Japanese food. There were booths with arts and crafts for sale by the Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild.

Columbia Park has over 110 cherry blossom trees that were donated by Soka Gakkai International-USA. The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom symbolizes hope, virtue and new beginnings while also representing the fragility and the beauty of life. It is a reminder that life can be very beautiful but that it can also be tragically short. I think one of the most surprising things about yesterday\’s event is that even with the extremely odd [non]winter we had, the trees still knew what weekend they needed to bloom for us. Continue reading →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged City of Torrance, Columbia Park, Family fun, North Torrance Homeowners Association, O-Edo Ichi-Za, Photos, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Torrance, Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild, Torrance Sister City Association | Leave a comment

If it\’s too loud you\’re too old? Maybe not.

Published February 1, 2015 | By Lloyd Brown

Every once in a while I write an article that I know ahead of time is going to upset some people; I am relatively confident there will be those that are not going to like this article. I am okay with that and apologize ahead of time if you don\’t approve of my thoughts.

A couple months ago, at a Torrance City Council meeting, there was a topic of discussion regarding a free \”summer\” concert series that runs from January through October on Saturday evenings from 6:00-9:00 PM at the courtyard on Cabrillo by El Prado. Since the event is sponsored by BFD Buffalo Fire Department and The Depot restaurants and the owner, Chef Shafer, is known for his support of local charities it was pretty open and shut as to whether or not the City of Torrance would grant Shafer the permit he requested to hold these concerts.

When it came time for public comments there was one gentleman that lives somewhere in the courtyard complex and he came complaining about the noise. Naturally, Shafer had the deck stacked against the guy as he had customers come in and talk about how much they enjoyed the concerts. What I found odd was the one young lady that said she lived a couple blocks away and could hear the music, but wished it was louder so she could hear it better. Continue reading →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged Buffalo Fire Department, Chef Shafer, free concerts, Photos, restaurants, The Depot, Torrance, Torrance City Council, Tortilla Cantina | Leave a comment

Fiesta Floats of the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade

Published December 31, 2014 | By Lloyd Brown

It is New Year\’s Eve, and the time is up for the preparation of the floats for the 126th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade with will begin at 8:00 AM on January 1, 2015. I began my day by heading back out to Irwindale and Fiesta Parade Floats, the leading award winning float-builder in the Tournament of Roses Parade.

I lucked out today as I happened to arrive at Fiesta Floats after they had begun removing some floats from the building they were built in, giving me the ability to take some photos without dozens (or hundreds) of people vying for position to take their photos. If you have been following the progression of the float construction you can see that the Torrance entry dedicated to hometown hero, Louis Zamperini, came out very nice. It will be one of the first floats in tomorrow\’s parade. Continue reading →

Posted in Local Events | Tagged California Cut Flower Commission, CCFC, Fiesta Parade Floats, happy new year, Irwindale, Louis Zamperini, New Years Day, Pasadena, Photos, Pollack PR Marketing Group, Rose Bowl, Torrance, Torrance Rose Float Association, Tournament of Roses, Unbroken | 1 Comment

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