Volunteers approach completion of 2010 Rose Parade floats

Dec. 28, 2009 | KPCC Wire Services

Preparations for the Rose Parade are revving up, now that Christmas is out of the way.

More than 400 Kaiser Permanente employees will volunteer their time to decorate the hospital's Rose Bowl float, which will be ridden by eight ill children, some facing life-threatening diseases, a hospital spokesman said.

The eight children, ages 11-18, are Kaiser Permanente patients with cancer, sickle cell, asthma and diabetes, said hospital spokesperson Calvin Naito.

The decoration process began Sunday and will continue through Dec. 29, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., at Fiesta Parade Floats, 16016 Avenida Padilla, in Irwindale. The float was designed by Raul R. Rodriguez, who has won more awards than any other designer in the history of the Rose Bowl, Naito said.

Joining the Kaiser Permanente float during the 121st Annual Tournament of Rose Bowl Parade will be the latest entry by a float builder vying for a 17th straight Sweepstakes Trophy, the parade's top prize. Fiesta Parade Floats has built the last 16 Sweepstakes Trophy-winning floats, including the eight
won by Rain Bird, said William Ostedt, a Fiesta spokesman.

Hundreds of families and volunteers are expected to gather at Fiesta Parade Floats beginning today and continuing until New Year's Eve to begin the arduous task of affixing thousands of flowers and floral arrangements to this year's Rose Parade floats, Ostedt said.

The Mexican government is sponsoring its first Rose Parade float in more than 40 years in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and 100 years since the country's revolution.

The Mexican float costs nearly $250,000. Across the middle of the float are six-foot letters that spell out "Mexico 2010." At the head stands a replica of a famous statue — El Angel de la Independencia — in downtown Mexico City. It will be flanked by the portraits of Miguel Hidalgo, a hero of the 1810 independence, and Francisco Madera, a father of the 1910 revolution.

"With this float we're going to tell 40 million people watching on TV that it's Mexico's birthday," Juan Marcos Gutierrez-Gonzalez, the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles, told the Pasadena Star-News. "There's no better way to do it."

For the first time ever, Major League Baseball will have a float, Sporting News reported. The float will include a replica of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim home stadium and a baseball player. Members of an Anaheim
Boys & Girls Club will ride on the float. The cost is being underwritten by the Angels and the city of Anaheim.

This year's parade theme is "2010: A Cut Above the Rest." The grand marshal will be pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who in January successfully landed a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River after the aircraft ran into a flock of birds, saving the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft.

For the second year, Rose Parade fans will join 2010 float judges in awarding the trophies for the 2010 Rose Parade Float Awards. The Viewers' Choice Award will give everyone the chance to vote for their favorite float from one of this year's 39 eligible entries.

To vote for a float for Viewers' Choice Award, visit the Tournament of Roses official website. Voting continues daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Jan. 1.

The winner will be announced Jan. 2 and will be presented with a trophy the same day during the KTLA evening news at 6 p.m.

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