New Guest Blog- An inside look at the Cal Poly Universities award-winning Rose Parade Float

By Paulina Trujillo, Biomedical Engineering, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly Rose Float Decorations Chair

Cal Poly Universities joined forces yet again to create another award winning float. This was the 65th float that the two universities have worked on together and entered in the parade. The theme for the 124th annual Rose Parade was “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” inspired by the Dr. Seuss classic.  Cal Poly Universities’ entry was titled “Tuxedo Air” which featured Penguins, a flightless bird, learning how to fly. Cal Poly Universities created the first float to ever be certified California Grown last year, and they continued to be California Grown this year.

The float process began in January when the students held a “Concept Contest” which is open to the public. A Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Rose Float Alum, Kelsey Christoffels submitted this year’s winning concept. Then Rose Float committees on both campuses held several meetings to decide on the final designs of the float. Once the design was finalized, construction began. The construction took the students well into the fall quarter. Right after their finals, the students held Design Week, which is an entire week and a half dedicated to putting the final design touches on the float. Once Design Week was over the students got to go home for a few days to celebrate the holidays with their families. Then on the 26th they started up again with Deco Week. The students had until December 31st to get the float completely decorated and ready for the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.

Tuxedo Air was certified California Grown, which meant that at least 85 percent of all the decoration materials are from California.

We would like to thank all the California growers who worked with us to make this possible including the California Rice industry who donated 300 pounds of white rice. This rice was blended and used to create “snow” to adorn some of the mountains featured on this year’s float. The rice helped add a detailed element to the float, thank you very much! This year’s float won the Bob Hope Humor Trophy, signifying the most comical and amusing entry.

Here’s a shot of our two decorations chairs- myself and Nelson Chang from Cal Poly Pomona.

The student’s are extremely happy with the finished float and we hope the public enjoyed the float as much as we did!