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Event
Information:
The
Tournament of Roses Parade, better
known as the Rose Parade, is
"America's New Year Celebration", a
festival of flower-covered floats,
marching bands, equestrians and a
college football game on New Year's
Day (but moved to Monday if New
Year's Day falls on a Sunday),
produced by the non-profit Pasadena
Tournament of Roses Association.
The
annual parade was first held January
1, 1890 in Pasadena, California.
Today, the Rose Parade is watched in
person by hundreds of thousands of
spectators on the parade route, and
is broadcast on multiple television
networks in the United States (ABC
holds the official contract, but
because it is a public parade, other
networks are allowed to produce
their own coverage). It is seen by
millions more on television
worldwide in more than 200
international territories and
countries. The Rose Bowl
college football game was added in
1902 to help fund the cost of
staging the parade.
In
2010, the tournament announced that
Honda is the presenting sponsor and
the parade is known as the Rose
Parade presented by Honda. The
Tournament of Roses Parade has
followed the same route mainly
following Colorado Boulevard,
Pasadena's main thoroughfare and a
segment of the former US 66, for
many decades. The day before the
parade, the entire environs of the
neighborhood streets south of the
intersection of Orange Grove and
Colorado Blvds. are sealed off and
reserved for the massive parade
marshaling of the dozens of floats,
bands, equestrian units and other
elements. This staging area is
referred to as the "Formation Area"
and managed by the Formation Area
Committee.
On
parade morning, the various elements
are merged and dispatched in front
of Tournament House. It starts by
going north on South Orange Grove
Boulevard, beginning at Ellis
Street. At Colorado Boulevard it
passes the main grandstands, and the
main television and media stands,
and proceeds east on Colorado
Boulevard. The parade then turns
north on Sierra Madre Boulevard. The
floats then must travel under the
Sierra Madre Boulevard/I-210 freeway
overpass, requiring over-height
floats to reduce their height. The
parade ends at Paloma Street near
Victory Park and Pasadena High
School. Floats continue into the
Post Parade viewing area which is
open that afternoon and the
following day. In total, this route
is 5½ miles (9 km) long; the
assembled bands, horse units, and
floats take approximately 2 hours to
pass by.
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