Of Floats, Flowers and Snowboarding Bulldogs.

Before they march in the Rose Parade, South Kitsap High School Marching Band members will get a behind-the-scenes look at how the elaborate floats for the parade are constructed.

Among this year’s entries is a contender for the world’s longest float, featuring five snowboarding bulldogs, the entry representing Natural Balance Pet Foods. The Guinness World Records folk will be there today to certify, according to Daniel Bernstein of Bernstein Entertainment, which designed the float. Check it out.

KTLA 5 Morning News Interviews – Natural Balance Part 2 from Natural Balance on Vimeo.

Rose Parade float building began simply enough. Throw a few flowers on some horse drawn carriages (or what have you) and call it good.

The flower theme has persisted over the years as the float have gotten more complicated, with computerized movement and other fancy twists.

Float building today is a multi-million dollar business. The Tournament of Roses has high standards for acceptance of entries. Applications for floats are accepted usually more than a year in advance, and float construction begins shortly after the previous year’s parade ends.

According to the Tournament of Roses Web site, “The process starts with a specially-built chassis, upon which is built a framework of steel and chicken wire. In a process called ‘cocooning,’ the frame is sprayed with a polyvinyl material, which is then painted in the colors of the flowers to be applied later. Every inch of every float must be covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark. Volunteer workers swarm over the floats in the days after Christmas, their hands and clothes covered with glue and petals. The most delicate flowers are placed in individual vials of water, which are set into the float one by one.”

Computerized animation has had an enormous impact on Rose Parade floats. Recent Parade floats have featured King Kong stomping through a floral jungle, a guitar-playing dinosaur, pigs dancing the hula and a 60-foot-tall talking robot, all controlled by computers.

But through all the changes, the Rose Parade has remained true to its floral beginnings, and each float is decorated with more flowers than the average florist will use in five years.

Chris Henry, South Kitsap Reporter

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