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Floating into the New Year –

December 31, 2014 By Claire Annette Noland 6 Comments

float poster

 

A few months ago my daughter, Roxanne, suggested that we go and decorate the Rose Parade float built by the students at the Cal Poly Universities. I’m always ready for a field trip so we signed up. Unfortunately, Roxanne was scheduled to work on campus so my brother, John, joined me. We kept asking ourselves why, since we grew up near Pasadena, had we never worked on a float?

The Pasadena Rose Committee announces the theme in January and the students hold a contest to choose the design. The theme for the 126th Rose Parade is “Inspiring Stories.” The Cal Poly students chose “Soaring Stories” as their theme interpretation. How perfect is that?

Here’s the drawing of Cal Poly’s design:float drawing

The students work for nearly a year to make this float. Engineering students work on the mechanical parts. The students grow flowers and fund raise to put this amazing work of art together. They wear union suits with this cool logo:float union suit

They even set up a shop to help earn money for this huge project. Carrie designed this patch:float carrie

Deco week is when students, alumni, parents, and friends go to the tent set up near the Rose Bowl to decorate. float tent

The students are organized and ready for volunteers. My brother and I put Christmas tree boughs on the sides and seaweed on pool noodles to make the binding of a book.float w john

Families are welcome:

float families

The float must be completely covered with plant material. It is amazing what materials are used:

coconut

seaweed

crushed marigolds

pampas grass

rice

poppy seed

onion seed

beans

cranberries

potatoesfloat potatoes

and tons of flowers of many varieties

flowers 1float seeds and flowers

 

It takes a lot of time and patience to do the detail work.

float glue

float  v 1

float v2

The Griffin will be soaring on toward Orange Grove tonight for its New Year’s trip down Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena. It will be near the end of the parade so be on the lookout for it if you watch it on t.v.

float griffin

Happy New Year and may your year be filled with inspiring stories!

Here’s an update:

PASADENA, Calif. — The Cal Poly universities’ Tournament of Roses Parade float has done it again.

For the 53rd time since 1949, the only student-built float earned special honors at the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade held New Year’s Day. “Soaring Stories” won the Lathrop K. Leishman Trophy for the most beautiful non-commercial float.

“A lot of texts have been flying. Everybody is excited,” Josh D’Acquisto, Cal Poly’s Rose Parade float advisor, said two hours before the parade began. “  ‘Boy Scouts will be front of the float,’ is what we always say. If you win a trophy then there are Boy Scouts out in front of your float carrying a banner. You always want to be led by the Boy Scouts.”

You can read the entire article here: http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2015/January/2015_Rose_Parade.html

Filed Under: Celebrate, Farm Fresh, Field Trips, Inspirations, Places Tagged With: Cal Poly Rose Parade Float, Cal Poly Soaring Stories Float, New Year's Float, Rose parade, Rose Parade Float building

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Evelyne says

    January 1, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    I never went to see the parade, but with a son at Cal Poly I have no excuse, really. Good for you and your brother! The artwork is great and I love the list of ingredients to create this unique float. Happy New Year, Claire!
    Evelyne recently posted…From the New Year’s FrontMy Profile

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      January 3, 2015 at 9:59 pm

      Evelyne,
      Perhaps you could go with your family while your son is attending CalPoly.
      Happy New Year to you too and may your 2015 be filled with inspiring stories.

      Reply
  2. Flora Burlingame says

    January 3, 2015 at 11:20 pm

    Thanks, for sharing, Claire. This is the best picture of this year’s float I have seen. We were very aware of the Cal Poly floats while our son attended at the Pomona campus. He did the electronic engineering his senior year and rode in the float during the parade. He and his wife met because of the floats–she was president of the support group on campus. Each year when the two campuses got together to finish the float we hosted students from both schools because we lived in Temple city. They would come in at all hours of the night and crash on our living room floor. It was a fun time for all of us!

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      January 6, 2015 at 6:19 am

      Thanks for visiting, Flora. That must have been a blast for your son to ride on the float. The Cal Poly kids were so friendly and really appreciated our help. They are so resourceful and clever. I’m planning on going back to work on next year’s float.

      Reply
  3. Nancy Ralston says

    January 4, 2015 at 1:52 am

    What a neat experience. Enjoyed all the details. Sounds like so much work and time go into this, but it was well worth the effort.

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      January 6, 2015 at 6:21 am

      Hi Nancy, I certainly appreciate the floats more now that I’ve seen first hand the amount of work that goes into them. We were able to wander around and visit the other floats as they were being decorated. It made watching the Rose parade extra meaningful.

      Reply

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Hello. I’m Claire Annette - reader, writer, teacher, and field trip planner extraordinaire. Here at A Field Trip Life you will find ideas for adventures large and small and the kids’ books that inspire them. Sign your permission slip. Let's go!

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