The Rose Parade

Well I was going to start the new year with a post entitled New Year, New Blog, New Me.  It was going to focus on all the positives about life in the US as both my husband and daughter repeatedly tell me that my blog is nothing but tirade of sarcastic negativity.  Well now there’s no need, because I have just returned from witnessing the Pasadena Rose Parade and I am positively buzzing with positivity!!

The annual Pasadena Rose Parade, for those not in the know, is held every year on New Year’s Day (unless New Year’s Day is a Sunday in which case it’s held on the Monday…)…anyway, it is the epitome of true Americana; a two hour parade along a five mile route through the streets of Pasadena.  There are High School marching bands, college marching bands; cheerleaders; flag wavers; decorated ponies;  decorated carriages; cowboys, Indians, Mexican dancers, Hawaiian dancers; a smiley-smiley “Rose Queen” and her “Royal Court” of smiley-smiley Rose princesses; and most spectacular of all are the decorated floats; huge moving structures dressed from top to toe in a magnificent assortment of fresh flowers.  

 The floats here are nothing like any float you will have seen back home.  If like me, you’re from a small English village where the highlight of the social year was the annual carnival – a couple of lorries with handmade decorations and cardboard scenery, designed and manned by the local boy scouts or the brownie troop, lead by a 20 piece Salvation Army band – then the Rose Parade will quite simply blow your mind away! Think perhaps Notting Hill carnival combined with Jersey’s Battle of the Flowers and then think – well this is America, and imagine something about 100 times bigger. There’s nothing amateur about these floats – the most spectacular ones are there to promote America’s largest corporations….the US Bank, Kaiser Permanente (health insurance), and of course  my favourite American institutions – the pharmaceutical companies.

It’s a huge event, broadcast live across the whole of America.  School and college bands compete to take part - it's an honour and a privilege to be chosen.  This is what America does best and before you can stop yourself, you’re sat there, surrounded by your new fellow countrymen, clapping, cheering and yelling “yeeha” and “good job” and “God bless America” along the rest of them….

And after the parade comes the Rose Bowl football game between two leading college teams.   The Rose Bowl stadium holds over 100,000 people; so Pasadena is buzzing with an overload of people in the run up to New Year.  The rival fans exchange friendly banter but there appears to be no trouble; no fighting; no drunken behavior – this is college football and it all appears very clean cut..

The Rose Parade is a national institution but even more amazing than the parade itself, is the makeshift camps that are set up along the route on New Year’s  Eve.  Apparently any time after noon on New Year’s Eve you can pop your chair down on the pavement, or mark a spot in tape or chalk and stake your claim.  Nobody will steal your chair; or pinch your place…..can you imagine that in the UK? Whole families will set up camp “come on kids, time for the annual camping holiday on the streets of Pasadena”  But forget the tent, just bring the blow up mattress, the sleeping bags, the cool box, the BBQ, oh and the TV of course, plus the generator……

Yes we spotted  a family sat round a 40” flat screen TV on the pavement as we walked down Colorado Boulevard which is main street Pasadena, and although there are always plenty of people sleeping out rough in Pasadena any night of the week, at least on New Year’s Eve they get lots of company. There is a obviously a great sense of camaraderie amongst the makeshift fires and BBQ’s, and what culinary delights did we see being whipped up on one grill? Barbequed cheesey wotsits.  Yes dad was threading cheesey wotsits onto a kebab stick and popping them onto the grill…yum, must try that one at home…..

But back to the parade.  After an hour of all that clapping and cheering, and patriotism, you just start to feel, well, seen one flag-waver, seen them all and it’s all starting to wear a bit thin.  Fortunately one of the floats did break down right in front of us and we had the added excitement of the white suited officials (and don’t think white suit as in boiler suit, think white suit as in John Travolta….) flapping around, waving clipboards, grabbing walkie talkies before the strategically placed AAA tow truck was able to push its way through the crowds to the rescue….

 Forty seven floats, 22 bands and 22 equestrian entries later, it was finally over and you know you never want to see another marching band again in your life.  Until next year that is – I’ve already marked my my spot on the sidewalk …….