2014 Tournament of Roses Parade float decorating (and meals in Pasadena)

mmm-yoso!!! the food blog is written by a few people who do more than just eat. We (Kirk, Ed(from Yuma), Cathy and others) have professions, jobs, hobbies and various interests. The end purpose of each post is to share some sort of food and/or eating experience.  Today's post, written by Cathy, is a compilation of food and interest...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day! The year has really flown by and in less than a week- it's 2014.  The year will begin in Southern California, as it has begun for the previous 124 years, with the Tournament of Roses parade and football game.

If you follow the blog, you know I've been sharings 2014 Rose Parade float road tests with you all year and finally the time arrived for decorating the floats. The Mister and I volunteer with the Petal Pushers, who assist in decorating floats which are parked in the Rose Palace Barn belonging to Phoenix Decorating Company and sign up for the days we want to volunteer months in advance.  

The Saturdays before Christmas Day in December are "Detail Days" (and used to be called 'dry decorating days'). "Detail Days" are for cutting, shredding and gluing. Lots of gluing. It's when The Mister and I volunteer and perform repetitive, tedious, necessary tasks for eight hours. Needless to say starting today, "Decorating Days" begin- from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m.(or later) every day until the floats are finished and ready to be judged on the morning of December 31. Decorating days are when fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers are being placed.  Many of the flowers (iris and roses) need to be cut then placed into water filled vials (which are all filled as one of the many tasks) then onto the floats.  Thousands of fresh flowers are being delivered on the day after Christmas as well as on the 27th, 28th and 29th. This Banner Float will be the first float you see in the 2014 parade, announcing the theme. The floats are 'colored in' both as a guide and in case some sort of disaster befalls the float and flowers or dry materials wash off; you'll still see color.Here are some views inside the Rose Palace. There are eleven floats being decorated. Another perspective. You can see the scaffolding is set up for the gluing that was to be performed this day. 

Some of the many dry materials being prepared for gluing.  The statice are delivered in three main colors (pink, light blue and dark purple) and only the flower petals are cut off and used.  The bags filled in the third photo are the results of about ten of the five gallon buckets being cut, or seven hours of cutting performed by ten people. 

Yellow straw flowers are in abundance here, petals are cut off, then pulverized in Blendtec Blenders (a Christmas gift this year, by the way) and the resultant powder as well as centers are glued onto the floats for both color and texture. The shredded ends(palm fiber) from palm bark are also peeled off and ground up in the whirring blenders. 

The seed chart shows all of the dry materials which are used (and excess stored) during Detail Days.

Here's the City of Glendale float (with Meatball the Bear), which I first showed you during the  August road test (last two photos on the post) and in it's coccoon stage during the September road test (the eighth photo).

The City of Los Angeles float (which will need a *lot* of the purple statice for the LA Lakers portion of the float) 

 Here's some detail of flower pots being covered with braided dry materials, called Pac-Pac.   

 Only three people are allowed on a scaffold at a time (this is the Western Life Assurance float).  Scaffolding is moved and lowered a bit each week.

 The Shriners Hospital for Children float, is a superhero bear bounching off a giant heart with detail on the back of the cape.

 This is the back side of the heart that the bear is bouncing from-covered meticulously with cut red straw flower petals...

The Lions Club International had many volunteers show up from Lions Clubs all over Southern California.

 Farmers Insurance is one of the last floats built and road tested and wasn't quite ready for decorating on the day we were here.  It's theme of "Thank a Million Teachers" is based on a three year program the insurance company has been promoting.

The Centenniel of the City of Beverly Hills is a magnificent float.

Of course we had breaks before and after this day of gluing and cutting.  Above is outside the Rose Palace decorating barn when we all took a lunch break.  {See that large doorway?  That's the maximum height and width a float needs to contract, so it can fit under the street and signal lights along the parade route.} The Pizza Hut a block away provides a personal pizza and beverage for $3.50 (you order when you sign in to work) and donates $1 from each order to the Petal Pushers. The Mister and I had brought our own lunch...

 We had stopped at Mr. Goods Donuts on Colorado Boulevard before our long day.  

The shelves were full, but we only (of course) bought the wonderful ham and cheese filled croissants sold here, to be part of our lunch.

Mr. Goods Donuts 1840 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena 91107

After a long day, we left and parked around the corner from this old design McDonald's on Colorado Boulevard, next to Pasadena City College.

Walking past it, and the Comics Factory (really, it's on Colorado Boulevard and the Parade route-look closely at all the Rose Parade signs on every light post), we were back at Zankou Chicken (where we ate after decorating last year), which we figured would be a 'healthy' meal with enough leftover for the next day...

And it was.  Enough for another meal, sides and snacks for two more days actually.

Zankou Chicken 1296 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena 91106 (626)405-1502 website

Since we did not have to be ready to start until 9 a.m., we didn't leave home at our usual 5 a.m., so got to Cream Pan far past our 'usual' time of about 6:15.  There were a few more people inside, however the shelves had more choices, including this $2 cup of karaage...which was nice to eat in the car as a supplemental breakfast item.  Of course, the usual suspects, ham and cheese croissant and catsup covered pastry wrapped hot dog were also consumed that day.

Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 (714)665-8239

I hope everyone is having a good day after Christmas!

 

Comments

[Sandy]

Thank you for posting regularly about the Rose Parade floats. I always look forward to watching the parade on tv, and seeing your behind-the-scenes photos make you really appreciate the work it takes to make those floats happen. No strawberry croissants for you from Cream Pan?

[Cathy]

You're welcome, Sandy. I am so happy to be able to share activities and meals with everyone via the blog. No strawberry croissants this trip...we're supposed to leave personal things in the car and never know how the weather will be or where we will park...and I so like to savor the strawberries and whipped cream...

[Soo Hom]

Nice trip! It's cool seeing behind the scenes. :-)

[caninecologne]

Yay! I love the return of Meatball the bear! :) Once again Cathy, an excellent and EPIC post. It's always neat to read and see the "behind the scenes". It's amazing that all of the floats fit into that structure. All of the hard work that goes into this parade is awesome. Thanks for sharing your unique POV.

I spy the hot dog thing from Cream Pan (my daughter's favorite)! :)

[Cathy]

Thanks Soo. It's been a fun year seeing the progress.
How nice of you, cc. I've always been fascinated with how things work and the floats are a tradition for so many of us, so sharing some of the steps is my way of sharing a couple of interests. That hot dog thing is so good, as is most everything at Cream Pan (we bought some rolls we thought were raisin bread but they were bread/yeast rolls filled with chocolate chips, which were fresh, but weird)...

[nhbilly]

Thanks for the Rose post. 10 years living in SoCal and I never checked out the Rose Parade. :-(

[Cathy]

The Mister and I have moved so many times in our lives, Bill, that we try to take advantage of whatever is local...plus we both grew up in cold climates, watching the Parade on TV with snow outside and having those 'when I grow up' promises to ourselves.

[Nhbilly]

Awesome... I will eventually.