How do you apply for a float, band, or equestrian unit in the Rose Parade? Floats, Equestrian units and Bands were the three main areas of importance discussed by our speaker, Mike Riffey. He talked about timing, how the participants are reviewed, when they are selected and when they are invited.
Mike Riffey has been a member of the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena since 1968 and is a past president of the Tournament of Roses. Mike was president of the Tournament in 2004 and currently is a director. He has served on numerous committees such as the music, equestrian, motion picture, and football committees to name a few. Mike lives in Temple City and was a member of the Pasadena Rotary Club for eleven years.
Currently, the Tournament is in the process of planning the 125th Parade and 100th Rose Bowl Game. He says next year will really be big, since it marks the aforementioned anniversaries and the 2014 BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl. Members of the Tournament are already working on the assignments for next year and in fact 80% of the work for 2014 is complete, while work has started on the 2015 parade.
As far as the equestrian units are concerned, applications are currently being received for the 2014 parade. The Tournament has the final say on which units will be allowed to be in the parade, even though a unit may have participated in the 2013 parade. Normally, the T of R receives 40 to 50 applications to have horse units in the parade. The selection committee likes to pick diverse breeds of horses for the parade, rather than the same types of horses each year. This year a Hawaiian group was selected, but because of the distance and cost to transport their horses, this equestrian unit rented horses for the parade. It was necessary to have a handler present to insure a horse’s stability on the parade route. The T of R is careful to have veterinarians in attendance in the event a horse should go down along the route. If necessary, a horse can be administered a serum to quiet it down and to be additionally safe the T of R utilizes the equine ambulance from Santa Anita Race Track for a horse that may have trouble. Horses have specially prepared coverings for their hooves to ensure their safety.
The floats are the integral part of the parade and care has to be taken that they comply with the rules and can access the streets and go under the 210 Freeway Bridge. On January 17, the current president of the T of R will select the theme for the 2014 parade. Once that is announced the float builders generate the design of their floats and bring the plans to the T of R. Floats receive a rigorous review before being allowed to ultimately be in the parade and if there are duplicate ideas, or plans, the T of R can refuse to allow the float to be in the parade. Floats can be similar under the theme, but not the same.
At this time parade floats generally cost between $75 and $200 thousand dollars to build. This year’s Disney float cost about a half million to build for the parade. Floats often take anywhere from 20,000 to 400,000 blossoms per float. Sponsorship of a float is critical to the building of a float and final payment to the builder comes after the parade due to the issue of a breakdown of the float which can cause a fine to the sponsor/ builder. Since floats vary between builders, the Tournament has skilled mechanics on staff to evaluate each float and the mechanics of operation. All floats are tested before the final work is done on a float. This year there were 44 floats in the parade and each was inspected and tested before going on the street.
Bands present a different aspect for the parade. The bands that will be in the 2014 parade have already been selected, while applications for 2015 are being accepted and will be invited this October. The T of R does not pay a band to march in the parade; it is up to each participating band to fund the cost of the transportation and housing for each member who will march. Currently, it costs about $800 per person to participate in a band in the parade.
Another aspect of the festivities is Band Fest, which is conducted at the Pasadena City College stadium and involves the participating band to put on their own field show. Each band selects its own music for the parade march, but is subject to review by the Tournament. To apply for participation, a band will submit a three ring binder with information about the band, size and awards. There are 36 members of the Tournament on the Band Committee and each member has an area or region they scout for bands. There are six bands which automatically receive invitations to parade and another from the winner of the competition at the Los Angeles County Fair. The remaining participating bands come from a multitude of locations in and out of the United States. Normally, a band cannot return for four years after participating and the minimum size is at least 150 people.
The annual budget for the Tournament is now at $46 million for the parade and game. The revenues for the game bring in $34 million. The revenues for next year’s game expect to bring in over $80 million. The parade is the third most watched event on television with over 200 million people watching.
The Air Force Fly over such as the B-2 Bomber is a military exercise mission, where the plane will do the fly over, proceed to another location and then return to fly over the Game.