Coming Up Roses: A Road Scholar Staff Adventure at the Rose Parade®

“That first moment is one I will never forget,” she recalls, “standing near a large warehouse with a group of excited Road Scholars, waiting for our chance to decorate some of the world-famous Rose Parade® floats. We felt like insiders with the red and white wristbands that declared us official volunteers.”  

When a float worker finally opened one of the large bay doors and the group got their first glimpse inside, a cheer went up. “At that point pre-parade,” Erika explains, “those iconic floats are really just huge, abstract creations of metal, Styrofoam and floral materials, all in varying levels of completion.” Despite the amount of work clearly to be done, no one was daunted.  

“I really did feel like a child experiencing Disney World for the first time,” Erika says. “I could make out a giant football shape, a dragon and gigantic flowers that will be made from other flowers. It was wild and wonderful.” 

That sense of wonder carried through the day as buckets of flowers began to appear, ready to be cut and placed. Hundreds of stacks of pallets containing vials in which to secure the flowers were bordering a fence outside, and it wasn’t long before participants realized the volume of flowers they’d be encountering. 

Undaunted, Erika and her fellow Road Scholars jumped into action — gluing almonds and shredded coconut, attaching bark and placing flowers into those thousands of tiny water vials. Float work is no joke, and this team of volunteers rose to the challenge. 

Float decorating is just one highlight of this colorful, immersive program. Participants also attend Bandfest, a two-day celebration of performances by the marching bands chosen for the parade. They learn from Tournament of Roses® insiders — both those appearing in the parade and those who work the parade’s backstage machinations — and have the honor of sitting in grandstand seats to watch the iconic event in all its flower-filled glory. 

A few days after float-building, Erika and her parade-mates are ensconced in their grandstand seats, watching in anticipation of seeing their finished floats. “There was a definite buzz in the air as the first floats made their way to where we were stationed,” Erika says. “And during the next few hours, we were completely delighted by everything! Our dragons, our flowers, our trees and our footballs looked phenomenal. ” She adds, “Really, it was amazing to see the amount of detail that had been completed since our initial volunteer day.” 

After the parade, Erika and her group took one final walk along Sierra Madre Boulevard to view the floats up close, catching all the tiny details they hadn’t noticed before — murals created from seeds, shredded flower petals, orange slices, cabbages, onions, broccoli and kale. So many unexpected natural items were used to create the intricate float details. 

They looked for floats that had won awards, and everyone was enamored by those decorated with exotic flowers and — of course — the largest number of roses. 

Like many Road Scholar programs, this one brought people with different backgrounds together through shared curiosity. Erika traveled alongside artists, gardeners, multigenerational families and first-time participants who had always dreamed of seeing the Rose Parade® up close. 

“What brought us together was that we had all watched the parade each year and had always wanted to share this adventure with others,” Erika says. “We all went home with fond memories — of each other, of Pasadena, of the end of one year and the beginning of the next.” 

But the best part? The camaraderie and the floats, of course, but more importantly, “We can now say we have been a part of the Rose Parade®.” 

Have a Rose Parade® experience to share, either from home or in Pasadena itself? Is Rose Parade®: A Heritage to Celebrate on your wish list? Join the conversation — and the community — on Facebook.