If you watch the Rose Parade 1/1/2003...

“The Cal Poly Universities Float this year is pretty cool - "A Sundae Afternoon":


The float superstructure is built on the two Cal Poly Campuses (Pomona and San Luis Obispo) and then bolted together in Pomona just after Thanksgiving.

My son has been working on the roller coaster track and car for the past month or two. We saw the float over the weekend and it is really taking shape. One of my students will be driving it. Last Wednesday I took my Dutch ovens over to the Rose Float Lab and cooked dinner for all the students working on the float. They loved it (and boy can they pound away the food!).

Tonight around midnight they will move the float from Pomona to a big tent in the the Rose Bowl parking lot. We will probably be over there next week to help decorate.

The float should be in the middle of the parade somewhere so hopefully it will get coverage. Cal Poly Pomona will also have an equestrian unit in the parade.”

“I can't help but think of the float in Animal House, <G>

Must be the food theme.”

“Sorry, Phil. Us "real" backpackers will be on the trail that day!

It's a beautiful float.”

“That is so cool...I want to go to the Rose parade one day. I try to always watch it on TV. I will keep an eye out for the float.”

“crazygurl,

The mountains you see in the background during the Rose Parade are what's real fun. The San Gabriels are great hiking material.

Come on out to So Cal...great hiking.”

“I'll have an eye for the float. From the sketch, it looks very Alice In Wonderland-ish. What fun.....”

“Thank Mtn Master..I will have to keep that in mind :-)”

“That float would make Willy Wonka jealous.”

“Speaking of the local mountains, I was looking at them today while driving home and they were beautiful and well covered with snow. It was so clear I could see from Mt. Wilson to Mt. San Gorgonio. It could be really awesome at parade time.”

“Yeah, I was looking at the South San Gabes from Moulton in Laguna Hills this afternoon..the bride and I went for a hike in Whiting Ranch...from Cucamonga as far north as the eye could see was crystal clear. I haven't seen that kind of clarity for the past five years. Baldy was magnificent. The air around here today was pure and lovely. The sun was warm, and the temps were in the 60's. It's the only way to spend the winter...LOL.”

“I always love the rose parade. I just wish the television personalities would be quiet and let us see the darn floats!

It's neat you get to participate in the making of this float Phil.”

“It is a lot of fun being involved with the float. My wife LOVES to work on the float. There are alumni who come out every year help decorate in Pasadena...it is part of the season for them. It is in their blood!”

“My son just got home from helping move the float to Pasadena. About 3/4 of the way there the float hit a low hanging power line and pulled down a power pole. Created some excitement. The university had done everything right, so they weren't in trouble. I guess three news vans showed up. FREE PUBLICITY!”

“Must have been a slow news day in Los Angeles. The float knocking down the power lines and power poles made the news all day long.

More free publicity!!!”

“I love the Rose Bowl parade! That is really neat that you participate in it.”

“Miss Opie - It is fun to be involved with something that is quite spectacular when you consider the huge creations that are covered with thousands of flowers and 450 million people watching on Jan 1. What a lot of people don't realize is that the quality of many floats is much better than is really needed to satisfy the audience and TV cameras. To win an award you have to satisfy the judges--who appreciate the details.

On the first float I decorated I spent hours with two other people decorating a fish. The scales were covered with lentil beans put on one-by-one and the spaces in between the scales were covered with rice. It was very tedious, but I was told the fish was intended to impress the judges. That being said, it is impossible to predict what the judges will do.”

“Our float will be about in the middle of the parade...the 28th one out of 55 floats.

Yesterday we went to Pasadena and helped decorate the float for a while. We ran into Raul Rodriquez, the float designer whose trademark is an exotic bird on his shoulder. He always rides on one of the floats he designed. We went to the same high school, so I use that as an introduction.
L-R below: Phil's dad; Phil's daughter, Debi; Raul Rodriquez; Phil
”

“Phil - Great shot!”

“and congratulations on your Boilermakers' success today.”

“LOL about the exotic bird as I worked for about an hour with a dove on my shoulders. A dood from the lower mill had a dove decoy and he clipped it to my shoulder when I was down there and told me to "Go back to work!" so I did. Got alot of laughs from it.

Anywho... can't wait to see the float. Take care Phil.”

“Strider - Thanks! We Boilermakers are thankful for any bowl victory we can get.”

“Phil, I generally don't watch much of the Rose Parade, but stopped on NBC while surfing between bowl games just in time to catch your float. Beautiful AND an award winner to boot.”

“I saw the float also! What a neat design! Very impressive”

“Dang was that impressive. I can't imagine making something of that magnitude. So impressive, it was given the "Best Presentation For The Theme" award.”

“how do I get one of those six foot gingerbread men to dunk in my glass of milk?”

“The day went great! The Theme Award is very prestegious, sort of like getting second place. It usually goes to a professionally built float, not a self built.

abc covered the float well with clips and interviews before and after the float went by. They owed us that because last year they cut-away to a commercial when our float went by.

All the animation worked as the float went by the cameras...hooray. I will find out later how the float worked the rest of the way.

Anyway, everyone was thrilled. A lot of students and alumni put in tons of time to make this all happen.”

“Dang Phil, let 'em know that float was awesome! Too cool!”

“That was sooooo cooool!
I can't imagine all the work that went into it!

Congrats!!!”

“Well, apparently our float was a great success. All the animation worked for the first 2/3 of the parade and was well liked. A wheel came off the roller coaster so it didn't work the last 1/3, but no big deal by then. We got great coverage on at least one major network and one major syndicated broadcast.”

“One network, heck! It was showing on the fox, nbc, abc, and cbs stations here.”

“Looked wonderful and I loved the roller coaster.
We also saw Raul Rodriquez with Littlefoot on his shoulder.
Thanks for the heads up ...it made it just that much more special!”