Parade rings in new year
PASADENA, Calif. — The flower-drenched Rose Parade rolled with few hitches Friday under cloudless blue skies to the delight of hundreds of thousands of fans, some of whom camped out all night on sidewalks determined not to let security fears get in the way of their fun.
The temperature at the start of the annual New Year’s Day pageant in Pasadena barely topped 40 degrees but spectators shed layers as the sun lit up dozens of bright floats featuring characters and settings woven with roses, carnations and other flowers.
The theme of this year’s parade, “Know Your Adventure,” was inspired by the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016. The grand marshal was documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who produced the Emmy-award winning series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
Burns waved to the crowd with his family from an antique convertible. Earlier, he said he has been a fan of the parade since he was a child, though he had never before attended in person.
“I don’t think I’ve ever missed one on television since the early ’60s,” he told parade organizers.
The 44 floats included an entry paying homage to the City of Hope medical center that was built by and featured athlete cancer survivors.
A losing record didn’t stop the Los Angeles Lakers from entering a float titled “Every Second is an Adventure,” ridden by team legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Paula Abdul, a former member of the Laker Girls dance squad. The crowd-pleasing entry featured two acrobats swaying over revelers atop flexible poles.
The massive Disney entry featured a Star Wars theme complete with stormtroopers on one end and characters from the animated hit “Frozen” on the other. It won the Extraordinaire Trophy for most spectacular float — one of several awards given.
