The Best Friends in the World

I couldn't ask for better friends in the whole, wide world!

Last night at the home of Paul and Margie Grossman, some of the friends who made it possible for me to ride on the Kiwanis International Float in the Rose Parade gathered for a dinner and debriefing with me about my experiences. It was so sweet of them to have this post-parade celebration!

That's Claire and Bill Bogaard in the top photo.

Below are Dale Downs, Nancy Esbenshade and Judy Kent.

Ben Green and Dianne Philibosian:

Paul Grossman and Dale Downs:

Margie Grossman and Judy Kent:

Jerram Swartz and Dennis Downs:

Claire Bogaard and Tom Seifert:

Betty Ho and Deb Swartz:

Thank you so much, everybody!

See more about my experiences here, here and here.

More Kiwanis International Float Photos

Many thanks to Isabel Chavez for the photo above and the next one below.

And many thanks also to Kathy Hernandez for this one (she was something like nine stories up!):

See more here and here:

I Love a (Rose) Parade!

Well, yesterday was quite simply a dream come true and the thrill of a lifetime!

Thanks to a group of wonderful and generous friends, I rode on the Kiwanis International float in the Rose Parade (see this post for background). That's me waving to the right of horse in the photo above.

The day before the parade, all the riders got together in front of the float at the Rosemont Pavilion. The woman in the chair is 99-year-old Eleanor, who rode on the Vista del Arroyo Hotel float when she was 16. The others are Kiwanis International officials, Key Club high school students from around the world and Miss Latina Global. It has been the wish of the boy at front left, all his short life, to ride in the Rose Parade, so Kiwanis International flew him here from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Our navigator, who sat under the front of the float giving instructions to the driver in the back of the float:

The driver's seat:

Julie was trying to escape my lens in this next photo and almost made it! Her father, a member of Kiwanis for 50 years, was scheduled to be next to me on the float but was too ill so Julie rode in his honor, carrying a framed photo of herself with her dad in healthier circumstances. The guy in the white suit is a Tournament of Roses official.

The Wrigley Mansion, headquarters of the Tournament of Roses, is owned by the City of Pasadena. I shot this as we were passing the mansion on Orange Grove Boulevard:

Looking up at the Goodyear Blimp while "floating" down Colorado Boulevard:

A miniscule glimpse of the estimated 700,000 people who lined the 5.5-mile Rose Parade route:

My long-time PIO pal Karen George shot this on her TV screen in Minnesota:

By the end of the day I was happy, giddy, emotional, you name it! It was the thrill of a lifetime.

I can never repay the fantastic generosity of the friends who made this happen for me.

And many thanks to Cafe Pasadena for the top photo, which he shot from a rooftop on Colorado Boulevard.

See the next post down for what led up to this incredible day! And then go here for even more photos.

A One-horse Open Sleigh!

Thanks to a couple of dozen generous friends, I'm going to be in the Rose Parade -- on the Kiwanis International float.

Here are some of those fantastic folks who are making this happen:

And those were just the friends who could be at McCormick & Schmick's on Dec. 21 to surprise me! There are several others as well.

I'm told it's a combination welcome-back-to-life and happy-retirement gift. I will be forever grateful for their generosity and friendship.

On Wednesday afternoon I visited the float in the Rosemont Pavilion near the Rose Bowl Stadium, thanks to Phoenix Decorating Company's Chuck Hayes, director of sponsor relations, and Dave Wallach, Kiwanis International Rose Float riders coordinator.

Rough illustrations for all 2012 Rose Parade floats had to be submitted and approved long before the 2011 parade, then the long process of 2012 float-building began just days after the 2011 parade.

Welders, engineers, designers, floral directors, scads of volunteers and more bring the floats to life.

I borrowed these photos of the Kiwanis International float in progress from Phoenix:

Horse head in the making:

Welder working on base:

Wire mesh icicles for the base:

Wire mesh fully in place everywhere:

I took the remaining photos below, all related to this float.

Every square inch of float exterior, even the wheels of the chassis, must be covered in natural plant, vegetable, fruit, tree, seed, grain and/or flower materials. Deciding which types will be used is a meticulous process decided a year in advance (which is why this board is pretty faded):

If you look closely, you'll see that the sleigh is covered with seeds of various natural colors (no dye allowed) and the trunks are covered in seaweed and other material. Those pink pads on top of the trunks will be covered with huge cascades of flowers.

Volunteers carefully attached thousands upon thousands of seeds to the horse, along with what looks like it might be pampas grass on the mane:

Two floats down from Kiwanis International -- the Roy Rogers Riders Club:

Yep, that's the honest-to-goodness Trigger, as good-lookin' as when he was taxidermed many years ago! Bullet will be his side. This massive float will celebrate the 100th birthday of the late King of the Cowboys. I grew up watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on TV in the 1950s, so this is a particular thrill!

Look for me on the Kiwanis International Float! I'll be sitting on one of the perches near the top of the base. On Orange Grove Boulevard I'll be on the west side, on Colorado Boulevard you'll see me on the north side and on Sierra Madre Boulevard I'll be waving from the west side. So what if I won't be on the "TV side" at Orange Grove and Colorado -- there'll be plenty of open spaces between the horse's legs, so you should be able to see me (and I you) just fine!

All the floats, including the riders, have to be on Orange Grove Boulevard for judging on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.. The parade will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 2, since it's never on a Sunday.

Oh, boy!!!!

Press Conference at the Rose Palace

This morning while floats were being decorated all around us, we conducted a press conference at the Rose Palace about safety and enforcement measures for the 2011 Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game.

In the photos above, Fire Chief Dennis Downs addresses the media.

Here's the Rose Palace exterior. You've passed it a jillion times. It's at 835 S. Raymond Ave. and is owned by the Tournament of Roses Association for decorating floats.


Police Chief Phillip Sanchez was up next:



And then Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl Stadium:


After the speakers were finished, there were side interviews with reporters. Here's Chief Sanchez being interviewed by KNX Radio while Darryl Dunn is interviewed by Brian Charles of the Pasadena Star-News:


Police Sgt. Bobby Lomeli, who ordinarily works with public schools, did a Spanish-language interview with Telemundo:



How does a PIO get the media to come to a press conference? With a simple e-mail:

CITY OF PASADENA PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
PRESS CONFERENCE / PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
MEDIA CONTACT: Lisa Derderian, Fire Department, (626) 744-7276

Hundreds of thousands of people line the Rose Parade route on New Year’s Eve in anticipation of the parade the next day, and more than 90,000 football fans attend the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1. This Wednesday, officials will conduct a press conference to explain important safety measures for revelers along the parade route and at the Rose Bowl Stadium, and plans for responding to situations in which people break the law or are in need of medical attention.

DATE AND TIME:
Wednesday, Dec. 29
10 a.m.

PLACE:
Rose Palace
835 S. Raymond Ave. in Pasadena

MEDIA PARKING:
Limited parking is available at Rose Palace for media (on-site security will direct you in); there is additional parking across the street.

SPEAKERS
• Dennis Downs, Pasadena Fire Chief
• Phillip Sanchez, Pasadena Police Chief
• Bill Flinn, Tournament of Roses Chief Operating Officer
• Darryl Dunn, Rose Bowl General Manager
(The 2011 Tournament of Roses theme float “Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories” will serve as a backdrop.)

A LITTLE MORE INFO:
Enhanced security measures will be in effect and very evident along the parade route and at the stadium. Typical calls for response include medical issues, alcohol-related incidents and illegal burning. The Rose Palace is owned by the Tournament of Roses Association and used for the construction of floats.

# # #

Ann Erdman
Public Information Officer
City of Pasadena
Public Affairs Office
100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S228
Pasadena CA 91109
(626) 744-4755
Cell: (626) 375-2742
www.cityofpasadena.net/publicaffairs
Blog: www.pasadenapio.blogspot.com
Facebook: Pasadena PIO
Twitter: pasadenapio

Lisa Derderian, our emergency management coordinator and PIO in the Fire Department, gave me the basic info and I put the alert together quickly and sent it out. Lisa and I make a great team!

I don't know how it is that she wasn't in any of the photos I shot this morning.

So just for giggles, here once again (as if we would ever tire of it!) are the photos of Lisa in her fire PIO hat and me in my makeshift city PIO hat that was created out of sheer jealousy:




I have a newer version in my office if you ever want to come visit it! Both of my PIO hats were made by the mighty Zack Stromberg of the Public Affairs office.

On Friday I'll post some photos of the float decorating that was taking place in the cavernous building.

Mystery History -- Solved!

I'm calling a tie on this one: (1) Trish for her 11:29 a.m. Tuesday guess "can't remember her name...ugh, brain fail. But behind her, welding work being done on the queen/court float for the parade" and (2) Roberta for her 11:37 p.m. Wednesday guess "Isabel Coleman?"

In the photo above, Isabella Coleman stands in front of the steel framework for San Diego's 1965 Rose Parade float titled "World Peace."

Here's the finished float in the parade:


It was one of the final works of the veteran float designer whose career spanned 60 years.

Isabella Coleman was a visionary who was single-handedly responsible for changing the look of the Rose Parade.

In the early days of the Tournament of Roses, before the turn of the century, the parade featured horse-drawn wagons with a few roses and other flowers woven or tied to them.

Along came "Izzy," who in 1909 created the technique of gluing individual flower petals -- thousands of them -- on a single entry.

She later pioneered many of the techniques for animation and elaborate detail that float designers still use today; and she was the first to pitch ideas for floats to corporate sponsors that would fund the work.

Here she is in 1915 with some of her awards for float design:


During the Great Depression, when her banker husband was out of work, it was her float designs that kept the family, er, afloat.

For each float she drew dozens of sketches, then hired commercial artists to create renderings. She stored the sketches and renderings under rugs in her home to keep them flat and save space.

The drawing of her 1936 float for Standard Oil of California was before its time:


Here's Izzy next to her 1960 Occidental Insurance float under construction.


Detail of the same float, later on:


All told, she designed more than 250 award-winning Rose Parade floats over the course of her career.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has an ongoing exhibition titled "Holidays on Display" that features Isabella's work.


Five years after she retired, the Tournament of Roses honored her by adding a new float award: the Isabella Coleman Trophy for best presentation of color and color harmony through floral use.

She remains the most respected float designer in history.

For you local history buffs, her father was C.V. Sturdevant, a Pasadena realtor and developer.

Excerpt from one of my favorite books in the Centennial Room at Pasadena Central Library, "Pasadena: Historical and Personal" by J.W. Wood:

So it would seem that despite the "late disturbance" the town was altogether in desperate straits. The Board of Trade Directors, then as now, met now and decided that "something should be done" to promote progress, etc. Due attention must be given to the fact that the "Colony" had outgrown its swaddling clothes, and had become a regularly incorporated "City" of the sixth class, which, under California laws, meant that it was managed by a Board of Trustees, with a Chairman whose duties corresponded with those of Mayor and City Council under a more expanded system.

One of the things that counted after the boom wreck had been cleared away, was the efforts made to improve the street by cleaning up, sprinkling them and in cases, paving them. Scarcity of water, at times, scarcity of money, always, retarded street sprinkling and the dust was frequently intolerable. The wide awake real estate agent realized the drawbacks in these conditions and urged their correction.

I remember particularly the endeavors in the direction made by such agents as C. V. Sturdevant in the Los Robles, Galena and other streets in the northeast section. Sturdevant labored for two or three years to bring about better street conditions and saw them completed at last.

Many thanks to the Tournament of Roses Association and the Smithsonian Institution.