I recently had the opportunity to visit the South Pasadena Rose Parade float and get a sneak preview of the 2026 float entitled: “The Great Picnic Heist”. The event was sponsored by the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and featured some coffee and pastries – plus a fantastic morning of checking out the float with all the volunteers working together on it!
Learned tons about the South Pasadena float – for example:
South Pasadena has had a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade continuously since 1911! Check out below an early pic of a float from long ago at the Rose Parade.
Ed Donnelly is in charge of the float preparations and has a large group of volunteers helping make this year’s float a reality. Check out a pic of Ed and the volunteers below.
I learned that this year’s float has an “observer” hidden in the front of the float. Courtney Dunlap is slated to the the observer this year. Her job is to sit in the front of the float in a hidden compartment and be the lookout for the front of the float. Courtney will sit in the tiny compartment from about 6:00 am until around 11:00 am (when the parade ends). Also – there are no luxuries in there at all – there’s not a toilet either. There is an emergency brake to stop the float if the observer sees an obstacle that can’t be avoided. Here’s a few pics of Courtney and her hidden compartment.
Many of the volunteers have worked on every float for over 20 years! Hundreds of visitors come from all over the world each year to see the float in progress.
This year the judging will take place on December 31st at 7:22 am. The judges view the float for 3 minutes with the float fully active / lit / or animated. Then they are off to the next float. The South Pasadena float has won an award for the past 5 years. Remarkable considering it is fully funded by the community of South Pasadena and put together by volunteers from the community.
The cost from start to finish is around $200,000. The organizers are not sure if tariffs will affect the flowers from South and Central America this year. All the funds are donated locally through a large variety of fund raisers! Be on the lookout for those. Part of the funds are raised through a quaint little booth next to the float selling all kinds of awesome memorabilia for the South Pasadena float – like clothing, stickers, pins, and a variety of collectibles.
They are working to build a permanent home for the float. Right now it’s just under a tent right off the Oaklawn Street Bridge. The group will ill fundraise to create a permanent structure – likely nearby behind the War Memorial Building.
Best of luck to the float and all the volunteers in winning another award this year! You can stop by and see the float in progress anytime up until December 31st. And of course you can catch the final version in the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1st!
