Unlike most years, the 117^th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade is not being held on January 1^st because of the date falling on a Sunday.   In speaking with locals, some entrepreneurial locals, the idea was that church bells rung on Sunday might scare the horses.  The other half of that rumor is that local churches didn’t want it held on a Sunday as it might interfere with church. 

We viewed two of the three locations where floats are being assembled.  The other location is in Duarte, about 11 miles away.   The trip from Duarte to Pasadena is 2 plus hours with the floats traveling at top speed of approximately 5 miles per hour.  With the rain, driver adjustments were necessary as no windshield wipers were planned on the floats.  Driving is now via personnel directing the float’s driver with hand signals.

Along the parade route, floats are staged with staging of the floats, bands and horses occurring in 3 different locations before they are merged into the actual parade.  The various expected traveled and staging areas are evident with the number of port-a-potties. 

What is actually seen on tv is yet a fraction of the route focused mainly along Orange Grove and the turn onto Colorado Bouelvard, easily recognized by the bleachers and media signage.  Media news vans were parked alongside the road with cameras elevated stories high to catch the birds eye view for all to see during the parade.   What isn’t seen are all of the boards along the retail stores along Colorado Boulevard.  The car dealership with the Mercedes and Porsches didn’t have boards near the bleachers, yet national retailers only a few blocks awasy such as The Gap, Loehmann’s and Pottery Barn had boards covering up their store fronts.  If I didn’t know better, I would think we had somehow ventured into a hurricane area.   What kind of message are they sending to the many tourists visiting?  Let’s see if they show up on the parade coverage tomorrow.

2006 Tournament of Roses Parade Facts:  The 2006 Grand Marshal isSandra Day O’Connor with Camille Clark being the 88^th Rose Queen.  Grammy Award winner Leann Rimes will star in the Rose Parade’s Opening Show, premiering “Something’s Gotta Give” from her album “This Woman.”  This year’s Rose Parade’s theme is “It’s Magical” shown through 48 floats, 25 marching bands and 23 equestrian units, and 3 official vehicles along the 5-1\2 mile parade route.