"Sand-Sational Helpers" ~ Burbank Tournament of Roses Float 2018

This was a special year for me to be working on the Burbank Tournament of Roses float for 2018, "Sand-Sational Helpers," for several reasons:  you may remember I wrote about entering the design contest for the float, and nearly being chosen.  But this year I also got to decorate with my mom!   And in the end, I was up on the float itself, placing pale pink roses in the bricks of the sandcastle. 

The theme of the 2018 Rose Parade was "Making a Difference," and the Burbank float exemplified this by our team of sea creatures mindfully cooperating on a beach cleanup.   

Our first day volunteering, Day 3 of Deco Week, sorting seed.

My family celebrated Christmas together for the first time in many years at my sister's house in Arizona.  Though it takes the full year to design and build the framing, apply coating and paint, Deco Week is the period between Christmas and New Years Day, when the majority of the float is decorated and live flowers are applied.  After driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles with my parents, we were able to visit the float site on day 3 of Deco Week.  The float was largely formed, but many details were being created off the float.  My folks were able to get a scale of the endeavor and how many volunteers are involved, the way the organization is structured, and what sort of tasks are required to cover all the details.  My dad brought a book and "supervised" my mom and I on our first visit.  Since it was my mom's first volunteer day, we were given a menial task of sorting a collection of seed into its components, to be reused.  We quickly learned the feel of flax seed vs fenugreek seed, picking one out from the other using tweezers for a couple hours.  We chatted for a good bit with the supervisor in charge of the "waves," not realizing what an intricate and delicate set of flowers were involved in that one detail.

Our Octopus friend on Day 3 of Deco Week

My mom and I returned the next day for some more volunteer time.  We had to wait a bit for an assignment as there were quite a few volunteers.  While waiting, I latched my mom onto a tour being given by one of the supervisors, who happened to be one of the drivers of the float.  He gave further insight into the inner workings of the float, and the four men who ride inside, telling how he is in charge of communications, the live feed, animations, and the audio soundtrack during the parade. 

Day 4 of Deco Week -- Adding Glue to Mumms for the Heron

My mom and I were "upgraded" that day, from the menial tasks of the day before, to actually working on a piece of the float.  We spent three hours applying an industrial glue to trays of mumm blossoms and handing the trays to a decorator on a ladder, who was applying the blooms to the body and neck of an oversize Heron.  Time passed so quickly it escaped us, and we were late leaving the barn for a movie.  We had fun working together as a team, assembly-line style!

Heron Day 4 of Deco Week, as we were working on it.

Day 5 of Deco Week -- Adding Roses to the bricks of the Castle

On Saturday, my folks left town for their next destination, and I again visited the float, alone.  I came by for judging in the afternoon, and got to see the float pulled out of the barn into the sunlight of the neighboring parking lot.  Just the movement of the float is a big production - it had to be backed into the parking lot.  I was taking picture after picture, admiring our work.  All of a sudden the turrets of the sand castle began to emerge and I realized the float had another layer of height!  Throwing away my photos, I started documenting all over.  After judging I went home for a bit, coming back around six to check on the decorator's progress.

In the evening again the politics of float building came into play, this time in my favor, as only two volunteers were needed to climb onto the float, and one slot was already taken.  The person supervising manpower chose me because I had been there the last three days, signified by the dots on my volunteer tag, while the other available person had only been there for two days.  Since I had given more volunteer days, I was chosen to fill the last spot.  So I was put directly onto the float, taking palettes of pale pink roses pre-fitted into water vials and stuffing the vials into holes drilled into the "bricks" of the sand castle.  The drilled holes were tightly fitted, so much so that it was difficult to get the last half-dozen roses into the rectangular spaces. 

After two hours I and a partner had finished the front of the castle.  The floor of the float was covered with the same "sand" dried mixture, and I left the float barn thinking my job was done.  When I showed up for judging the next afternoon, I was surprised to find that the entire floor of the float had been covered in a river of roses! 

Busily reading the float to pull out for judging Day 5 of Deco Week -- New Years Eve

Final judging on New Years Eve always draws a large audience.  It's the first time seeing the fully decorated float, with animation and soundtrack playing.  I had fun playing with the panorama camera function on my phone while the float was being prepped to move out.  The crowd is shushed and encouraged to be silent as soon as the judges' van pulls up.  The judges encircle the float with their clipboards in hand, making silent notations.  A bell rings, signaling the end of the judging, and VIPs converge for group photos of all combinations. 

 

The detail on the float was amazing, from a crab throwing refuse into a trash can to the angel fish next to the Burbank sign.  Besides the octopus and heron, there were seals, pelican, seahorses, walrus, turtles, seagull, crabs, and all manner of sea friends.  My friend Joann spent an afternoon working on all the "trash" pieces on the float.

 

Our little Heron was on the not-camera side of the float.

My friend Wendy, who first got me involved as a volunteer five years ago.

I took a few fun selfies while waiting for the judges to arrive.

 

 

There are only six community funded and volunteer built entries, referred to as "Self-built," in the entire Rose Parade.  Those six groups compete for one special trophy, the Founders Trophy.   This year we took the trophy over our competitors!  It was so much fun to see our float onscreen, and know all of the hard work that had been contributed to get it there.  I can't wait for next year as my holiday tradition continues!