Rose Parade Floats

Family. Lots of family in town. And what happens when family is in town? I get out of the house and actually do stuff. Fun stuff!

My cousin Jessica and her husband Dave moved from Pennsylvania to San Francisco this past summer. I'm so glad it only took them six months to make a trip down to see us. One of the main things they wanted to be sure to do on their visit was decorate Rose Parade floats. So my mom looked into finding a group to do it with and got everything set up. This was my third time doing it. It's always an adventure.

In the building we were working in there were about nine floats.

I'm guessing this is going to be the lead float announcing the parade theme:

Wells Fargo - "Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories"

The float we worked on is sponsored by the Lutheran Laymen's League and titled "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".

Here is our float.

We started by cutting the tops of flowers and applying glue to the back.

Uncle David and Jess jumping right in.

We also spent a lot of time cutting carnations and sticking toothpicks in the bud base so they could be attached to the body of the base of the float later. Our last task was to start gluing some flowers on the float itself.

I was really happy that Jess and Dave got to work directly on the float for most of the time. There was a lot of detail work in the stained glass decoration.

Jess and Dave

Some detail work.

We worked an eight hour shift with a break for dinner. We were supposed to get pizza, but they ran out with the group ahead of us. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we found a Boston Market and took a nice, brisk walk to get a much better meal than the pizza would have been. Plus we could sit down in a warm room instead of standing up outside to eat.

Here are some of the other floats that were in our building.

Shriners Hospitals - "Changing the World Through Caring for Kids"

City of Los Angeles - "Cirque Du Soleil Comes to Town"

Odd Fellows and Rebekahs - "Underwater Fantasy"

Farmers Insurance - "Dream Machine"

This float is amazing. It is so huge. We were all curious about how the float would compress to fit through the doors to get out of the building. I learned that the float stands 17'4" and the doors are 17 feet. There also is a bridge along the parade route which is always a factor for the float builders. For this float, the house lowers down into the boat. I don't think we'll get to see just how low it goes in. But it is a beautiful float.

Saving America's Mustangs Foundation - "Mustang Monument"

This was another spectacular float. The mustangs are beautiful and the detail is wonderful. In the back it is already collapsed, but there is a mountain with a horse and Native American on top. In the evening there was some sort of special dinner for "important" people. Among them were some Native Americans dressed in their garb who got on the float for some photos. I wonder if they are the people that will be on the float in the parade.

If you read this post in time, you'll know which floats to look for!