Making the Floats

To get the rundown on this massive annual undertaking, we spoke with Jim Hynd and Scott Lamb, who have a combined 60 years of Rose Parade float-building experience. As floral directors at Fiesta Parade Floats and Phoenix Decorating Co., two of Pasadena’s largest float-building companies, Hynd and Lamb will oversee the production of 32 separate floats featured in this year's Rose Parade.

Because the floats are covered in cut flowers that will live only a few days, much of the work is done in the last week before the parade rolls. For the inside scoop on the final float-decorating push, a process that relies on help from thousands of volunteers, we turn to Andrea Zepeda, float leader with Festival Artists, another leading float-building company in Pasadena.

How is a float's design determined?

The float-building process begins in February with design development sessions between the corporate client commissioning the float and the folks who will build it. Taking into account the parade’s theme and the wishes of the client, in-house designers produce detailed hand-drawn sketches. This year’s theme is "Our Good Nature," a simultaneous nod to the world’s flora and fauna and the benevolence of mankind.

"Once the final design has been selected and hand-colored, I’ll take it from there and begin to interpret that design into the appropriate floral and organic material," says Hynd, floral director for Fiesta Parade Floats. Hynd chooses flowers primarily for color and effect. For example, Hynd is using masses of crimson carnations to replicate the red crushed-velvet jacket worn by a figure on a float.