Kathleen Finnegan

New Years Day Rose Parade!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for something fun to do on New Years Day, how about the Rose Parade in Pasadena?

ABOUT THE PARADE

Each New Year’s Day, the world focuses its attention on Pasadena, California, USA, home of the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. It’s a celebration more than a century old – a festival of flowers, music and sports unequaled anywhere else in the world. It’s America’s New Year Celebration, a greeting to the world on the first day of the year, and a salute to the community spirit and love of pageantry that have thrived in Pasadena for more than 100 years.

An event as large as the Tournament of Roses requires about 80,000 hours of combined manpower each year. That manpower is supplied by 935 members of the non-profit Tournament of Roses Association, a volunteer organization dedicated to presenting an internationally-recognized New Year’s celebration. Each volunteer is assigned to one of 31 committees, with responsibilities ranging from selecting parade participants to directing visitors on New Year’s Day, to hosting the press headquarters for media coverage of the Rose Bowl Game, to giving presentations about the Tournament to community groups.

Nicknamed “White Suiters” because of the distinctive white uniform every volunteer wears, these enthusiastic men and women give up their evenings, weekends and holidays to ensure the success of the parade and game. A small full-time staff provides support and continuity to the volunteer organization.

THE ROUTE

The 5 1/2-mile Rose Parade route begins at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. The parade travels north on Orange Grove at a leisurely 2 1/2-mile per hour pace and then turns east onto Colorado Boulevard, where the majority of the parade viewing takes place. Near the end of the route, the parade turns north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard and concludes at Villa Street.

PARKING

Reserved parking for automobiles, buses and recreational vehicles is available for purchase through Sharp Seating Company, (626) 795-4171; the city of Pasadena, (626) 744-6470; and Easy Parking Service, (626) 286-7576. Paid parking is also offered on a first-come, first-served basis at various lots and parking structures near the parade route.

Thanks for reading!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Community Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.