My first review of 2019! This is for the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade float decorating volunteers! The float is located at the side of the War Memorial building and is the "Oldest self-built float in the Rose Parade." This organization has been building floats since 1893 and have won numerous awards, including the National Trophy in 2016, the Founder's Trophy in 2013 and the Fantasy Trophy in 2012.
Volunteers begin the construction phase of the float in June of each year and decorating begins in October. You must be at least 13 years old to participate and they do give school and community service hours! LA East CM, Katie B. told me she did this while she was in school!
You additionally need to sign a medical release form, wear closed-toe shoes and old clothes that may get glue, water, seeds, bark and, if you're lucky, flowers on them! You are also working outdoors in the shade and you should dress in warm layers.
Nadine C. flew in from Hawaii just to fulfill this "bucket-list" item. We worked for 5 hours in cold, windy weather. Since this was right after Christmas, we did not get to work on flowers, but we filled thousands of water vials and capped them to be flower-ready! We also had the unusual task of ironing eucalyptus BARK! This is just as difficult as it sounds but smelled nice. The bark was used for the guitar portion
of the float.
This was an interesting way to spend time volunteering on a beautiful project. The folks there were very nice and appreciative. There was a little gift booth where you could purchase pins and shirts and coffee mugs and other Rose Parade memorabilia. Nadine went crazy at the booth...
Warning, this is definitely not a luxury situation and there are only porta-potties and some hot coffee and maybe doughnuts. Volunteers that day did not receive a tshirt (but Nadine went to another site in Irwindale and received a tshirt for volunteering!)
I would do it again!
Yelp Challenge 2019: 1/100 read more