On January 1, I did something I hadn’t done since I was a child. I watched part of the Rose Parade, before watching the day’s slate of football bowl games.

History

It all began with tourism.

In the winter of 1890, Pasadena, California’s illustrious Valley Hunt Club was looking for a way to promote their city. At a club meeting, Professor Charles Frederick Holder said, “In New York, people are buried in snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let’s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise.”

The idea practically wrote itself. Games would be played in the warm California sun—chariot races, jousting, polo, etc.—and former East Coast neighbors would be invited. What could be better than a mid-winter break in “paradise?”

The delightful weather also provided an abundance of fresh flowers, and the club decided to add a parade before the games. Participants decorated their carriages with hundreds of colorful blooms, and this flower parade and games became the first Tournament of Roses.

Did You Know…

• By 1895, the inaugural festival had outgrown the Valley Hunt Club’s capabilities. The Tournament of Roses Association was formed to assume responsibility.
• The family of chewing gum mogul, William Wrigley, Jr., gave their Italian Renaissance-style mansion to the city of Pasadena in 1958 to be used as the permanent headquarters for the Tournament of Roses Association.
• The Association’s volunteer members are nicknamed “white suiters” because they wear distinct white suits.

The Parade

Though the parade was almost an afterthought, it quickly became the highlight of the festival. The parade has three types of entries: equestrians, marching bands, and floats. Only four cars are allowed in the parade. They carry the parade’s Grand Marshal, the Mayor of Pasadena, the Rose Bowl Game Hall of Fame Inductees, and the Tournament of Roses President.

Did You Know…

• Only 3,000 spectators watched the first Rose Parade. Today, approximately one million people attend each year, with millions of others watching it on television.
• In 1891, Monrovia, CA’s City Band marched in the second Tournament of Roses Parade. They were the first band to do so. Since then, numerous high school, college, university, and military bands have marched in it.
• Since 1893, no Rose Parade has taken place on a Sunday. This was originally done so as not to disturb church services or cause distress to the congregation’s horses.
• The horse-drawn era ended with the thirty-first Rose Parade in 1920. After that all floats were motor driven.
• The coldest Rose Parade—32 degrees—took place on New Year’s Day in 1952.
• The parade moves at a leisurely two-and-a-half-miles-per-hour pace along its five-and-a-half-mile route.

The Floats

The tournament committee sets each year’s theme. They also review and approve each float’s design prior to construction. The Tournament of Roses rules state: “Every inch of the float must be covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds, or bark.” (The four cars are exempt from this rule, although they’re often decorated with floral arrangements.) Roses and other fragile flowers are positioned in individual water vials and secured to the float only days before the parade.

Did You Know…

• At one point early on, the Rose Parade was called the Battle of the Roses.
• During World War II, floats were decorated with seeds and dried materials rather than fresh flowers.
• While there are no official height and size restrictions, all floats must fit (or collapse) to go under the 16’6” Sierra Madre/I-210 freeway overpass.
• The tallest Rose Parade float, sponsored by Disney in 2004, towered nearly 100 feet in the air.
• Most of the flowers used on the floats now come from South America.
• One large float can use as many as 60,000 roses.
• Final decorations on just one Rose Parade float takes from 2,000-4,000 man-hours.
• Only a few floats are built exclusively by sponsoring community volunteers. Most floats are built by professional float building companies—a process that takes nearly a year to complete.
• The cost to design and construct a high-quality float begins at around $275,000. The design’s sophistication, degree of animation, and the variety of floral material will push the cost up or down.

Bonus: Rose Bowl Football Game

The first Tournament of Roses football game was added to the festival’s activities in 1902. It was the first post-season game in the nation and featured Stanford against Michigan. However, after Michigan’s route of Stanford, 49-0, the football game was dropped, and Roman-style chariot races took its place. It wasn’t until 1916 that football returned to the Tournament of Roses.

Did You Know…

• There are many firsts associated with Rose Bowl Football Games. In 1926, it was the location of the first local radio broadcast of an East-West bowl game. In 1927, it was the site of the first transcontinental radio broadcast of a sporting event. The first local telecast of a college football game happened there in 1948, while the first national telecast of one happened there in 1952. Finally, it was the site of the first coast-to-coast color telecast of a collegiate football game in 1962.
• A stadium was built in 1922 and nicknamed “The Rose Bowl Stadium.”
• Each year since 1947, the Rose Bowl game has sold out.