December 30,2013
PASADENA — Volunteers are busy decorating floats for the Rose Parade, which will take place January 1 in Pasadena, California. Dozens of organizations and companies are ready to promote their causes and products with the rolling displays covered with petals, leaves and seeds.
Thousands of volunteer are placing flower seeds and other vegetation over each square centimeter of every parade float.
“A lot of work, but it's a lot of fun.
Volunteer Virginia Brownworth came all the way from Minnesota to help out.
“We work with seeds, we work with flowers, we work with glue, we work with pins, just a variety of materials,” she said.
For Meg Farrell, the parade provides a chance to tell the story of her mother, and of 1,000 other members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. The transports flew aircraft from base to base to free up male pilots for combat.
“We feel that putting a float in the Rose Parade is one way to get the message out that these women served our country and helped to successfully conclude the war,” Farrell said.
Others also are using the Rose Parade to make a statement. Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair are a gay couple, they will celebrate their marriage atop a float shaped like a wedding cake, an entry sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“This is the first same-sex marriage on top of a float in a Rose Bowl Parade,” Leclair said.
“In front of millions of people around the world, so it's exciting,” said Loots.
Other groups are promoting animal welfare and another will highlight the role of police dogs. The Dole Food Company is promoting its brand with a tropical-theme. Dole executive Dave Spare says that for three years in a row, the company has had award-winning parade floats.
“The biggest prize in the parade is called the Sweepstakes Award. It's for the most beautiful entry, and we've won it the last three years, and God willing, we'll win it again,” he said.
But there is more decorating to do, as the hours tick down to the start of the parade. On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people will line the parade route, and tens of millions more will watch on television.