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All you ever wanted to know about floats in the Pasadena Rose Parade!

You know - the big parade in sunny Southern California! The one that happens each New Year's Morning!

From a self-built float point of view.

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The What?

That's the response I get from most people when I say, "I'm the Decorations Chair for the LaCanada Tournament of Roses Parade Association."

"The What?"

Answer: You know the big Tournament of Roses Parade that takes place in Pasadena (Southern California) each New Year's morning? Hopefully you're nodding your head "yes" by now.

Well, the LaCanada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association (LCF TRA for short) enters one of the six self-built floats in the parade.

"Self-built" - What's that? "Self-built" means that we are a 100% volunteer organization. We are not a professional float builder nor does our float does not have a corporate sponsor.

Why? Because we love it. Because its fun. Because, for me, I think of "float" as my second family. They are simply the best people I am privileged to know.

Check out our website: www.lcftra.org.

I'll add pictures as soon as I can figure out how!

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Deco Chair

This is another introduction, information article. Actual updates on current float happenings and my thoughts and frustrations as we go along will be coming later.

First, a bit of background: I grew up a quick walk away from the float site. Every year my Dad and I would walk down in the evenings to see how the float was coming along. I wanted to work on it more than anything but, the minimum age for volunteers is 13. The year I was 12, with my 13th birthday being just a couple of months away in February was a tough one!

The next year, I was so excited! I was there early for my first shift on Dec. 26 at 6:00 p.m.

I've been in that same parking lot where the float is decorated every single year since. I've given up trips and turned down jobs that wouldn't give me the necessary week (and now two weeks) off.

For the past eight or so years (maybe more), my husband (yep, met him at float) and I have been "Head Decorators". No, we don't just decorate heads! As such, it is our job to deliver a fully decorated float, ready for the parade route, on the evening of Dec. 31.

What does that involve? It is our job to decide what order to decorate the float in, when to begin putting on live flowers, and then to instruct the volunteers in decoration. Every day, three times a day, we are met with a group of volunteers ranging in age from 13 on up. The groups can number between 20 and 100 people. We divide them into small groups, explain their tasks, teach decorating techniques, oversee quality, solve problems, and try to have a cup of coffee or eat a doughnut now and then.

I've walked 12 miles a day, around the float, in the parking lot.

Last year, "they", being the Board, gave me the Board position of Decoration Chair (Deco Chair for short). Now, in addition to the above, I'm responsible for final color and material decisions for the entire float. I also have to find and order all the materials. Whew. Its exhausting, frustrating, maddening, and will make me absolutely crazy come late November.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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There's No Such Thing as "Just a Second"

Here's a bit of float advice: If anyone ever says to you, "It will just take a second" or any variation of that statement such as, "It will just take a minute", "It will just take a few minutes" or "I'll be right with you", "Just let me finish this, it will only take a minute" or "Let's just finish this quickly, it will only be a minute." Do Not Believe Them!!! The fact of the matter is that whatever that "quick project" is, will take at least an hour. Now, the project itself or the question that you need answered may indeed only require a second or a few minutes but you will get interrupted, you will become distracted, something else more urgent will come up and divert your attention (or the attention of the person you're talking to). And, in the end, it will be an hour. Nothing ever happens quickly at float, it seems, unless you don't want it to.

The flower order still has not been placed. Nor have any of the other material orders. O.k., I guess that's not quite true because I have managed to acquire onion seed.

Why has the order not been placed, you ask? Because, of course, the spreadsheet blew up. Yes. Completely blew up. White screen of death and all that. You've been there - you're happily working and then, you look at your computer screen, all the color drains out of your face and you scream, "Nooooooo!!!!" And then your head falls down on your desk. Thunk.

Brian and Dustin spent days fixing it. We were paralyzed. Funny, I've never had my beloved llittle scraps of paper (which I used before the spreadsheet was created) blow up. I may have temporairly misplaced one or two scraps, but that was the worst of it.

I have to admit, that the spreadsheet did come back new and improved, thanks to Dustin. Between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Dustin now answers his phone, "Microsoft Excel Tech Support".

Last night, Brian and I sat down to finish up the flower order. "It will just take a few minutes" he said to me. Uh-huh. I know better than that! A couple of hours later . . .

Orders should be sent off tonight.

Still looking for lemon leaves . . . anyone??

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Sept. 16, 2009

You know its too late and you should stop working on float stuff when: While trying to plan the base (floral arrangement placement, etc), someone suggests that we put a "pond" of iris under the origami frog. Someone else worries that the "pond" of iris should really be under the origami fish. Wait, why is the fish hanging off the side of the float anyways?? Oh, its a flying fish. Back to the frog's pond. Someone (o.k., o.k., I'll confess . . . it was me) brings up that an origami (paper) frog won't last very long in a pond; he would dissolve. This is very funny. O.k., maybe it was just funny to me.

The flower list is pretty much done and its time to actually start placing orders for things. This has given me a bad case of ordering jitters and led me to wonder, is the list really calculating correctly? Why does the list say I need a single Vanda orchid?? I know I don't need a single Vanda orchid so why does the list think I do? And, if it thinks that, then what else is wrong?

**Sigh** I just need to pick up the phone, fax, e-mail, etc. and place orders. For the most part, the orders can be tweaked slightly later.

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Institutional Knowledge - or the Lack Thereof

Sept. 12, 2009:

This morning's project is to figure out who the vendors are for each of our products. This is challenging when it comes to our dry materials. For example: A bucket of seed x has been in the deco trailer for years. This year, we want to use seed x but need more of it. Who the heck knows where we got it?? Who knows just how long its been in the deco trailer?? Who knows who was in charge of ordering deco materials whenever seed x arrived?? Its a true test of institutional knowledge. Wish me luck!

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Deco Update

Deco is humming along. The flower order is nearly done. A pad of paper entitled “Ongoing Float To Do List” now resides on my desk. Within an hour or so, the list was an entire page long. Within a day, I had moved on to page 2.

Look for lots of tried and true deco materials this year. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, this year’s decorating challenge has really been in keeping the origami feeling of the float. Paper is flat; flowers are fluffy – that presents a problem. So, we’ve gone to a fair amount of dried materials: cranberry seed, blueberry fiber, cranberry fiber, confettied strawflower, statice, and various mixes of seeds to make limestone, the skin of the wizard, and rocks. The dragon will be covered in camellia and lemon leaves. Origami paper patterns on the dragon and the smaller origami animals will be created with slices of limes, grapefruits, and lemons. Roses and floral arrangements will be worked in throughout the base.

Now that the deco list is close to being finalized, its time to turn our attention to all of you out there – our fabulous deco volunteers! Volunteer sign-up forms are now available on the website. We love groups – Boy Scout troops, Girl Scout troops, clubs and organizations of all sorts, family groups, groups of friends, etc. Just grab a few people you know and drag them on down to the deco site!! I’ve ordered all this stuff so I need you and your friends to come stick it on!! If you missed my Sept. 2007 newsletter article, I’ll remind you of some of the “perks” of float decorating:

- An endless supply of day-old doughnuts to eat;

- The excellent working conditions (in a parking lot, under a freeway overpass, out in the cold, with the constant sounds of traffic reverberating in your ears);

- The gourmet meals (fried chicken, hamburgers and pizza all in the same week!);

- The opportunity to experience the unrelenting stickiness of sticky glue.

Really, its fun!

Check out our Facebook group: LaCanada Tournament of Roses

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More Conversions

And its still Conversion Time. I'm sitting on the phone right now with Dustin (construction) getting the square foot measurement for each and every float item. So, just how many square feet do you think that origami frog is? Dragon? (1,000 square feet - that's a big dragon!) Lanterns? Potion Bottle stopper? Potion bottle finial? Potion bottle zig-zags? Potion bottle zig-zag verticals? (The what??)

**Yawn** More coffee and gumdrops needed.

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Square Footage to Flowers

Is "footage" even a word?

July 27, 2009:

Its Conversion Time!

How many roses per square foot? Carnations per square foot? Rose petals? Onion seed? Onion seed powder? Grapefruit slices? Lime slices? Lunaria?

You get the idea. Each material has its own conversion factor. Have to make sure you're using the correct conversion for heads versus petals, as applicable. Whole versus powdered or confettied. Then, convert the stem count into bundles or bunches. Need to know how many stems per bundle or bunch as its different for each kind of flower. And some things are simply ordered by the stem. How many petals per rose? How many iris flowers per stem and how many petals per flower? Just how many lemon leaves are there per branch of lemon tree? And how many camellia leaves are in the pile of branches in the back of that pick-up truck?

Some of the figuring is exact, some is a pure guess, and there's a lot of estimating. But, in the end, it all needs to be correct or else: 1) There's not enough flowers to cover the float and we scramble or 2) There's a lot of flowers left over, which equals wasted money.

Check, check, and check again!!!

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