South Pasadena turns to a celebrated nursery in Japan for essential color on its 2025 float.
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
RAFU ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Preparation is in full swing for float builders and decorators this week, as the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade is coming up fast.
For the most part, the floral masterpieces that will make their way down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day are past the construction stage and the arduous and carefully-planned decorating has begun.
The oldest civic entry in the 136-year history of the parade is South Pasadena, and their float-building activity was in high gear over the weekend.
Volunteers have been working on the 27-foot float at their long-time location – under a bridge in town – since July. Application of fresh flowers begins the day after Christmas. Timing is of the utmost importance, as the most perishable flowers must be placed last, many just hours before the 8 a.m. start of the parade on Jan. 1.
Ed Donnelly, president of the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses Committee, said the float’s concept was carefully crafted to fit the theme of the upcoming parade, “Best Day Ever.”
“We thought about all the young families and all their kids, and how when you’re a kid, the best day ever is spending a totally carefree day with your friends,” Donnelly explained. “Here we have three friends who have strapped together a raft and they’re headed out for an adventure, and they’re going to ‘Seas the Day,’ that’s the name of the float.”
Designed by Renee Hoss-Johnson, the city-built float will feature an intrepid crew made up of a turtle, a duck and a frog, pedal-sailing their way over the high seas. The high seas hijinx will unfold with Styx’s iconic song “Come Sail Away” as its soundtrack.
Depicting the ocean waves, however, posed an obstacle that has faced float-builders in years past.
“You’ll see at the base of the float, there’s a lot of blue. Well, there aren’t a lot of blue flowers,” Donnelly said. “Our challenge this year was how to represent the waves in the water, using natural materials in the spirit of the Rose Parade.”
The solution to this decorative dilemma was found both locally and across an ocean – the Pacific, to be exact. Blue hydrangeas will be paired with white roses and a specially-developed batch of mums, bred at a celebrated nursery in Japan, specifically for South Pasadena.
Named BluOcean chrysanthemums, the flowers were grown at Suntory Flowers in Higashiomi, in the Japanese prefecture of Shiga.
“We were always confident we’d rise to the challenge, and we have,” said Chris Metcalf, the committee’s floral designer. He said some 1,000 bunches of the genetically engineered and naturally blue blooms are being flown in fresh just ahead of Christmas.
“We reach out to the community every year for design submissions, usually 30 to 50 every year, little kids to senior citizens,” Donnelly added. “We were looking for ideas are that representations of childhood in South Pasadena. I think this fits the theme this year perfectly.”
The parade will also feature the Kyoto Tachibana High School Concert Band, one of the oldest female marching bands in Japan.
Nicknamed the “Orange Devils,” the marching unit is the latest from Japan to participate and represent the Japan Honor Green Band Association.