Most parade fans grow up watching the annual Rose Bowl Parade and all its floats and grandeur broadcasted from their television screens. Others, like Karen Creel and Debbie Finlay, go a step beyond and travel to Pasadena, CA, to not only watch the parade live, but to become part of the workforce that makes it happen. These parade buffs have experienced the thrill of being hands-on participants in three of the last ten Rose Bowl Parade processions and have plans, if all goes well, to do it again next year.

Debbie Finaly explained their initial involvement this way, “I’d just come back to work after the Christmas holidays, when Walter (Karen’s husband), came by and asked me how my holidays had gone. I told him I’d watched the Rose Bowl Parade on TV. He told me Karen had too. I told him I’d recorded and watched it repeatedly, to which he replied that Karen had too.”

The story continues that the conversation led to him suggesting the two old friends should team up and plan a trip to California for a future parade. That’s exactly what happened, and ten years later they have taken not one but three trips.

What started off as a tour with a group quickly evolved into the ladies becoming ‘workers’ on the various floats. The first year, they were invited to ‘put together’ the garland on a float called Bedtime Buddies.

“I looked at Karen and told her I couldn’t believe that we were doing it,” Debbie shared at the surprised opportunity to be a working part of the process.

Volunteers from across the nation with over 80,000 volunteer hours constitute the work teams that produce the exotic and astounding float entries. The atmosphere is charged with excitement and creativity as hundreds of thousands of roses and countless boxes of other plant life begin to come together in beautiful works of art. There are over 500,000 roses alone used on the motorized floats which can be upwards of 100 feet long and 16 feet tall. Every inch must be covered in natural materials from seeds to flowers to moss.

“It’s organized chaos,” Karen contributed. “There are big boxes of pineapples, squash, eggplant… any kind of plant life used on the floats.

Lots of seaweed is used also.”

This year they offered their services again, finding themselves adding live and dried foliage to floats housed in the various float barns. They created and attached lovely garlands made from asparagus foliage to the Humane Society float and meticulously glued dried beans around the ‘doorframe’ of another float.

There were a total of 23 floats awarded in this year’s 135th Rose Parade, presented by Honda with the Louisiana of Tourism’s float “Explore Louisiana,” taking the Showmanship Award.

“The Louisiana float alone had over 34,000 roses on it,” Karen noted.

The coveted 2024 Sweepstakes Trophy for the most beautiful entry, floral presentation and entertainment was presented to the San Diego Zoo. Both women were complimentary and impressed with the animated lion on the float and found it deserving of the honor.

Prior to the parade, they were given a guided tour of six floats, including the award winning LA float, with an overview of the inside workings of float construction and decorations. They enjoyed a presentation of BandFest, which included six of the bands scheduled to be a part of the 2024 parade. Day three found them touring the Tournament House owned by the Wrigley Family, that serves as the headquarters for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.

They were privileged to walk along the float procession with the three parade judges who evaluated and scored each entry in a three-step process. First, individual floats were viewed and scored in their respective float barns. Next, the judges scored the floats as they were lined up outside of the said facilities with music playing, animations active and participants in place. Third and lastly, the floats were evaluated on various criteria during the actual parade.

During the live parade Karen and Debbie had the privilege of enjoying VIP seating along the route bringing breathtaking floats, equestrian units, live float performances and marching bands within just a few feet of them. Close by, TV crews were filming the event. They were also seated near Hoda Kotb and Al Roker of the TODAY Show.

Karen, who helps oversee the Town of Jena Christmas parade, came home with new ideas for next year’s local Christmas parade. She is hoping to integrate some of those ideas she saw, making the local event more exciting and entertaining.

In the meantime, both are already planning to attend the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade and lend their hands and talents any way they can.