Tournament of Roses Parade

America’s New Years Parade

My grandmother grew up in a small rural farm town in the Midwest. As a child, she dreamed of moving to Southern California, where there was sunshine and beautiful beaches. Her dream came true in 1923 when she asked my grandfather to marry her and move her out of the Midwest.

One of the things my Grandparents enjoyed once they moved to Southern California was driving to Pasadena to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Years later, my Mother would march with her High School band as a songgirl down the 5.5-mile route. She said it was brutal.

The parade was initially started in 1890 by Pasadena’s Graceful Valley Hunt Club. At the time, Pasadena was 4 years old and a “peaceful setting” of 4,882. In the first parade, men rode horses with their favorite mount adorned with live flowers. Carriages were decorated, covering them in flowers. Other members of the Valley Hunt Club walked the parade, showing off their hounds on leashes. The first theme was “A Time to Remember.” More than 3,000 people attended, and the Pasadena Evening Star gave it a smashing review: “The greatest festival of similar nature ever held in the country.”

A Young Woman in her Twenties has Ideas.

In the early 1900s, a young woman named Isabella Coleman from Pasadena became a parade pioneer and revolutionized float construction with some bright ideas.

• In 1929, she attached bunches of flowers to the buggies, which were prettier and more natural than flowers on a string.
• Flowers were pasted to the float surface, which created more lifelike creations.
• The float's chassis was lowered to the pavement, enabling people to see a float’s beauty more clearly using airplane wheels instead of old high wheels. Later, television coverage challenged this concept, which could capture the float and details no matter how tall the float was.
• Isabella was the first to add vials that held water, which displayed the flowers more realistically and prevented them from wilting.

Later, the Tournament would require the floats to be self-propelled and wholly decorated with fresh foliage and other dried or fresh vegetation. All visible surfaces, including top surfaces and wheels, must be covered.

I am passionate about designing in this genre because it offers a magnificent scale, intricate details, and an incredibly collaborative creative process that engages everyone involved. Creating a parade float is similar to designing an opera or an arena tour. While traditional performances provide a fixed viewpoint at the front, a parade allows the audience to appreciate every angle of the float. The top of the float is equally essential, as it is viewed by parade-goers in the bleachers and by television cameras above.

I love incorporating unexpected design surprises onto the back of my floats. These elements enhance the visual experience and delight the audience, creating unforgettable memories for everyone who witnesses the spectacular display.

‍

The Mentor I Never Met

Raul Rodriguez, a third-generation Los Angeles native, began his career at age fifteen when he designed his first Rose Parade float. He has since created hundreds of floats and has won the most awards in the parade's history.

Growing up watching the parade on television, he was the King of the Tournament of Roses Parade. His design work was renowned for his bigger-than-life, theatrical, and flamboyant design concepts, always featuring stunningly beautiful and opulent floral designs. Every year, he would ride one of the floats he had designed with his Blue Macaw on his shoulder. I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, but he was a mentor of mine, shaping my design aesthetic. Over the years, I would spend countless hours researching and studying the wildly creative and whimsical color renderings he hand drew and painted by hand.

Raul had a fantastic philosophy:

"To entertain by re-creating diverse dramatic themes drawn from nature and the rich cornucopia of the world's cultures; to replay concepts from the whimsical to the exotic in larger-than-life presentations that allow me to relate the wonders of life in a bold, unique art form.”

The front marquee of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas best captures Raul's whimsy and flamboyance. His undulating feathers, made of neon and chaser lights, say “Flamingo” without having one.

‍

Floats with Roses in the Television

Watching the parade on TV every year on New Year's morning was a family tradition. I had never been to the parade, so in high school, my friends and I traveled to Pasadena the morning before the parade and staked out a spot along the parade route with folding chairs, blankets, and sleeping bags. Of course, we could not sleep that night because we were too excited to watch the parade for the first time in person.

I was a Future Farmers of America member in high school and studied horticulture, architectural landscape design, and floriculture. (I also raised two sheep, two pigs, and a dairy heifer, which is an entirely different story.) I was heavily involved in the theatre department, choir, and student council. Even though I would eventually earn my MFA in Theatrical Design from Rutgers, my high school training in horticulture and architectural landscape design became useful when I started designing for the Tournament of Roses Parade.

One early December morning, before the sun came up, my horticulture instructor, Alan Damann, took me and several other students to one of the Rose Parade warehouses where the floats were being constructed and decorated. We were going to help decorate or “petal” (This process is rare these days) the Native Sons & Daughters of the Golden West float, which was titled “Your Natural Resources.” I spent the entire day gluing silver dollar eucalyptus leaves, one at a time, on a surface inside a large matchbook, with the matchbook featured on the front of the float. The automation for the matchbook would lift the cover, revealing the stylized matches as people and the silver dollar Eucalyptus leaf background I had created.

The leaves needed to be perfectly glued onto the surface, one row at a time, with the next row overlapping the first, making it look like shingles on the house. It had to be impeccable, and it so tapped into my obsessive compulsiveness. The rubber cement I was given to attach the eucalyptus leaves to the float made me a little loopy, but thankfully, the glue used today is non-toxic.

On our lunch break, I remember standing in the middle of the warehouse, staring at all these fantastic, bigger-than-life floats and thinking, “How in the world did someone come up with this?” Even though I did not understand the process of designing a float or its construction at that moment, I knew I wanted to create one sometime in my life.

‍

Dreams Come True

I had designed several shows for SeaWorld when I learned that the company was planning to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a float in the Rose Parade. Eager to be part of this celebration, I reached out to my friend Scott Helmstedter, who had produced many of the shows I designed for SeaWorld. At this point in time, Scott was the company's chief creative officer (CCO). We spoke several times on the phone about the job, and he knew how passionate I was about having this opportunity. During one conversation, I even offered to cover my travel expenses to take on this job, as I was living in New York City then.

I felt I was the perfect fit because of my experience designing parades at Disneyland, and I was familiar with and understood the SeaWorld brand. Eventually, Scott hired me for the position, and to say the least, I was thrilled! He wanted to meet in person to discuss ideas, but I was in technical rehearsals for a new musical called Treasure Island at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. To facilitate our meeting, Scott flew out to Arkansas on the day of the show's opening, and we met in the theatre lobby to brainstorm ideas for the float. I can still see the afternoon sunlight streaming across the walls in the lobby.

When I returned to my design studio in NYC I created some design sketches based on our conversation in Arkansas. Scott approved them and shared then those concepts with the rest of the SeaWorld team.

Everyone involved with the float at SeaWorld agreed that there was one perfect design that would visually show the SeaWorld message: “A young boy snorkels through a coral reef in the ocean, and we see through his eyes the majesty of a' Sea of Surprises.” This straightforward and very simple idea told the story.

I did a quick study for color reference for Scott to ensure he was on board with what I was thinking for the coloration of the float. He had a couple of notes, and then I went on to create the final color rendering for the float.

SeaWorld submitted the color rendering for bidding to three shops authorized by the Tournament. Two of these shops proposed significant changes to the design, which unfortunately did not align with our vision for the float. The only shop left was Fiesta Parade Floats so we had a conference call with Tim Estes, the President and CEO of Fiesta Parade Floats.

Scott and I were very well-acquainted with Fiesta’s legendary, award-winning floats, known for their exquisite floral work. During the call, we asked Tim if he would need to modify the design if the contract was awarded to his shop. He replied, "Nope, the design is perfect." We were all so haopy after his statement and awarded the contract to Tim.

Fiesta was going to build my float design, and it would travel down historic Orange Grove Boulevard, making the iconic turn onto Colorado Boulevard during the parade's 125th Anniversary!!! I was elated!! That year’s theme was “Dreams Come True.”

Rose Parade Heaven

Scott and I attended our first meeting at Fiesta Parade Floats. As we entered the front door, we met Production Manager Beverly Stansbury, who greeted us and asked if I was a freelancer. I responded affirmatively, and she instructed us to wait before stepping away. Moments later, she returned to escort us into the conference room, where Tim Estes awaited us. He welcomed us with a warm smile and a hearty handshake, and we all took our seats.

To our surprise, we noticed a 1"-0” = 1’-0” scale model of my float design in the corner of the conference room. It was impressively constructed with 1/8” steel pencil rod that formed the shape of the float, complemented by some styrofoam details that mirrored my original rendering. We were unaware that the shop had progressed this far. I told Tim I had budgeted for a 3-D CAD model of the float that he could build from, but he replied, “We don’t need that. You provided this wonderful design, and now we will make it happen.”

He then asked if he could change the subject. Looking at me across the table, he asked me If I would be willing to design directly for Fiesta next year. What. What. What??!? I felt like my head was spinning and became a little emotional as I replied, “YES!” I could hardly believe that this was happening. Was I dreaming? It was an amazing and blessed moment in my career that I will never forget—I was going to design for Fiesta Parade Floats! WOW!

Scott and I shared some notes about the model, and then Tim took us on a shop tour. The warehouse was filled with hundreds of beautifully crafted wireframe sculptures, with bits of dry material covered in dust along its outer edges. The tour reminded me of the history of the Rose Parade, which I had seen on TV while growing up. It was a little slice of Rose Parade heaven.

‍

Making an Underwater Adventure Out of Flowers

During our first visit to the shop, Scott and I met Claudia Dial, the Head Art Director for Fiesta. She is exceptional at problem-solving, and funnily enough, we both share the Pisces zodiac sign. We were then introduced to the Vice President and Floral Director, Jim Hynd. Jim is a highly esteemed American Institute of Floral Design member and has received numerous awards and titles for his outstanding floral design work. He is a floral genius, meticulously specifying every flower and material on every square inch of the floats that Fiesta constructs and decorates. Amazing!

Jim brings in and collaborates with professional AIFD florists nationwide to create lavish and unexpected large-scale floral arrangements showcased on the floats. Beverly, who works alongside Jim, determines the quantities of flowers and dried materials needed for the designs. This requires pre-ordering flowers months in advance. For instance, Dutch Iris, often used to represent water, must be ordered by May and June to ensure delivery for the end of December when the flowers are added to the floats. This has to be one of the most stressful and challenging tasks at Fiesta, as the designs for some of the floats are often not fully established.

Tim said our float would be 18 feet wide by 55 feet long, which is considered a “standard size” for the parade. It will compete with all the other standard-size floats for the awards.

The shop had made significant progress. Using photographs of the animals as a reference, sculptor Vincente Avila developed a full-size silhouette of a dolphin by bending and welding metal rods together. When we checked back in with him later, he had completed his stunning sculptures of the sea horses. Ironically, they resembled intricate wireframe drawings we would have created in a computer program. We observed some of the other staff members attaching window screen to the float’s main coral section and Vincente’s steel rod animals. Subsequently, the screen was coated with a paste to create an opaque surface.

Underwater Progress

Many finished animal sculptures were painted in vibrant colors during our second visit to the shop. This resembled a three-dimensional paint-by-number for the volunteers to guide them on where to place the dried materials or flowers.

The float base, including the coral and waves, had been sprayed with a two-part foam. This surface allows the aqua vials filled with flowers to be inserted directly into the base of the float. Fiesta is meticulous about ensuring that the sub-structure of the float is not visible; therefore, the entire base is covered with Christmas tree greens. Not all shops adhere to this practice. The roses and other flowers are pushed through the greens in plastic water viles into the two-part foam.

As you can see below in my color rendering, I included reflected ocean highlights on the dolphins' lower surfaces. I enjoy using color-reflected highlights because, in the theater, they can add additional depth to the scenery. However, Jim explained why he wouldn’t add these highlights to the dolphins on the float. “It creates a camouflage effect, making the dolphins blend in with the background, which makes the dolphins much more challenging to see, especially on TV.”

Beverly gave me one of the best pieces of advice about designing a float:

“A five-year-old should be able to look at the float and understand it immediately. If they don’t, you’ve failed.”

Jim added more fish to the float, positioning them to swim next to the coral reef in the center. This enhancement enriched the visual texture of the overall design. He carefully placed each fish on the float, one at a time. Jim’s meticulous approach mirrors my design process when creating visually engaging scenic designs. Once again, every detail matters!

Decorating Week (or The Last Dash Before the Finish Line)

December 26th marks the official start of Decorating Week, which continues until the early morning of New Year’s Eve, when all of the final floral and dye design work is painstakingly completed. On New Year’s Eve, the floats will undergo their final judging. During this time, float supervisors, professional floral designers, and hundreds of dedicated volunteers come together in the warehouse with one common goal: Finish the floats! Every detail matters!

Jim Hynd collaborated with professional floral designers Bobby Eldridge and Michael Gaddie and associate designers Susan Ishkanian and Todd Jonson for my float. The speed at which they worked was impressive, and the grandeur of their floral arrangements was both inventive and stunningly beautiful. All of these individuals are AIFD and at the top of their field in the floral industry.

I observed Jim as he discussed his floral design concepts and the list of flowers with the designers. I was grateful to Jim for allowing me to sit in on these discussions, as I was learning immensely about the process and how these talented floral artists create their masterpieces. The ideas about how the flowers would be assembled were beyond my imagination—watching and listening to these incredible concepts felt like being part of a masterclass in floral design. All of this knowledge will influence my future designs for the parade.

This was my first time experiencing this vibrant community of creativity. I watched as thousands of meticulously detailed pieces of scenery were created—each carefully decorated by hand, often using tweezers to place individual beans or seeds. This intense, intricate work takes months to complete. Fortunately, volunteers attach some of the dry materials well before the parade. Two “Float Supervisors” oversee this process, and they are invaluable.

Sue Sumberg and Neil Conrad were my “Float Supervisors” and have been supervising the floats for years, generously donating their time to this process. They manage Beverly and Jim's “Floral Bible,” a comprehensive document listing all the different flowers, dried materials, colors, and the quantity of each flower allotted for every aspect of our float. Sue and Neil organize, delegate, and explain various tasks to the volunteers.

To facilitate the floral decorating process, scaffolding has been set up around and over all the floats, allowing the float decorators to access the higher sections. The more detailed sculptures are placed on banquet tables on the shop floor, making access to the finer details easier. Once completed, these sculptures will be lifted and attached to the floats.

The first round of judging takes place in the warehouse during the middle of decorating week. During this time, everyone is asked to leave except for the heads of Fiesta. They will accompany the three judges as they walk around and answer any questions about the details and materials used on the floats. The floats are evaluated based on three criteria: Float Design, Floral Presentation, and Entertainment Value.

Designated areas in the warehouse have been set up to prepare the flowers for the floats. Hundreds of Girl Scouts and their parents donate their time and spend their entire shifts cutting flower stems, placing them into plastic vials filled with water, and sealing them with a rubber tip with a small hole. This tip holds the flower in place and prevents the water from escaping. Millions of these vials are used just at Fiesta. After the parade, the vials are cleaned, recycled, and reused the following year.

Bobby, Michael, and their team are finishing up some fantastic floral details resembling various corals. A float supervisor, with the help of the Fiesta crew, attaches these details to the float's deck, creating a vibrant scene that mimics the bottom of the sea in a coral garden. Crabs, sea turtles, and penguins are also placed onto the float's base. The turtles and penguins appear to be swimming over the colorful beds of coral at the bottom of the reef. The meticulous details of the animals are stunningly beautiful. We hope the judges give us high marks for our intricate work.

The florists are busy working on troughs of flowers that evoke the sea foam coming off the waves at the front of the float. They add white cattleya orchids, roses, stocks, dendrobiums, and powder blue irises, cascading beautifully over the edges of the troughs to create the illusion of water splashes. Peeled onions are placed onto wooden spikes and grouped to resemble “bubbles.” While they have a strong odor, they add a unique detail to the float, representing sea foam.

As it got late, I asked Bobby and Michael if I could help, and they put me to work. I climbed the scaffolding carrying flowers and began placing them in the troughs at the high back end of the float. The troughs contain floral foam, a high-density foam that gets soaked in water, allowing the flowers to access water and stay where they are placed. The floral foam is secured to the troughs with chicken wire. I am pretty sure if you have been gifted a floral arrangement, the flowers have been arranged using floral foam unless they come in a vase.

Jim moves from float to float, answering questions and providing directions. He checks in on us at 11:30 PM, looks closely at the side of the float, and asks me to come down. He has an idea about the design. Standing next to him, I see that he is focused on an area that is supposed to be covered with blue irises, representing the ocean swirling around the base. As Jim started to speak, I realized I knew exactly what he would suggest. We decide to cut the ocean design at the back end of the deck and instead continue the coral theme on the sea floor. This makes perfect sense and will clarify the overall story. Jim explains this change to the team, and they get to work.

I climbed back up the scaffolding to finish my 15-foot-long trough of sea foam. Just as I was nearing completion, Jim came by the float at 1 a.m. and shouted up to me, “Stan! Stan! The flowers are facing the wrong direction! They should face the other way! It will make them read more clearly on television. We need to change it!” Although I followed instructions, I began rearranging the 15 feet of flowers.

By 2:30 a.m., the last animal sculptures were being attached high on the float. The scaffolding started coming down, and the final roses and gerbera daisies were pushed into the float deck. We all stepped back, and we could see this miraculous accomplishment for the first time. Together, we created a beautifully floral decorated masterpiece! It was a sculpture like no other—a stunning piece of art that millions would admire while watching the parade.

Some of the other floats in the warehouse are running behind schedule, so everyone from our float goes over to help the other teams. This incredible collaborative effort has brought us all closer together. At 3:45 a.m., I officially joined the Fiesta family. Then, I headed back to the hotel.

Judgment Day

Everyone is exhausted from the night before, but somehow, we all manage to show up at 7 a.m. My husband, Arnis, Scott, and I drive from the hotel to Fiesta. We meet up with other friends and family to witness the final judging. It is New Year’s Eve Day, and all of the floats are completed and are incredible works of art.

The judges approach our float as the animation begins to move. Floats earn extra points for incorporating animation, fire, and water. Our three orca whales, covered in black seaweed and coconut at the front of the float, breach gracefully in and out of the water. The movement is truly spectacular. Our young explorer, wearing flippers on his feet, kicks his legs, and bubbles rise around the float. Music, specifically chosen for our float, plays through hidden speakers, and we all clap and cheer as the judges walk around our beautiful creation, taking notes and chatting with our leaders, Tim, Beverly, and Jim. I have never been so proud!

Moving Day

After the judging, the warehouse falls silent. That evening, the Fiesta crew prepares to move all the floats to the staging area on Orange Grove Boulevard. Each float in the parade is equipped with a tow ball and a bright red fire extinguisher at the front in case of an engine stall or a fire. The fire extinguisher must be visible above the floral decorations.

Tow trucks, escorted by police, transport the floats to the staging area. This process takes several hours because the floats can only travel at five mph to reduce the risk of damage from hitting obstacles like potholes in the street. Meanwhile, the float supervisors and crew wait for the floats to arrive. They bring extra flowers, welding machines, and other tools from the shop to make any necessary repairs.

The Fiesta team gathered to watch Tim Estes and the other shop owners make their way up the hill to the steps of the Tournament House. The atmosphere was filled with traditional pomp and circumstance, complete with trumpeters and banners announcing the arrival of the Tournament President. The President began announcing the awards for the shop owners.

With a smile, Tim walked back down the hill to his team, sharing the news about the many awards Fiesta had won. Bobby and Michael texted me to let me know that SeaWorld had received the President’s Award (second prize) for the Most Effective Floral Use and Presentation! I felt a surge of emotion upon hearing this fantastic news while sitting beside my husband in the bleachers.

The Fiesta team continued down the street alongside thousands of others, eventually finding their seats in the bleachers. Each of us who had worked at Fiesta was exhausted yet filled with immense pride in the fruits and flowers of our labor. As the parade passed, we cheered loudly for the visually stunning and exceptional Fiesta Parade Floats. Everyone who worked on the floats at Fiesta started the New Year very happy. But most of all, my dream had come true!

Michael and Bobby invited me to the Tournament House that year to witness the pageantry and hear if my floats would win any awards. They are both incredibly talented artists and very kind.

As of 2025, I have designed 30 floats, 23 of which have been award winners.