Economic Woes Hit Tournament of Roses Parade

On Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 8 a.m. (PST), millions of spectators from around the world will celebrate the New Year with the 120th Rose Parade themed Hats Off To Entertainment. The Rose Parade will once again feature the beautiful pageantry and tradition of magnificent floral floats, high-stepping equestrians and spirited marching bands.
Following the Rose Parade, at 2:00 p.m. (PST), the 95th Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi will feature an exciting match-up between BCS ranked No. 8 Penn State and No. 5 USC in The Granddaddy of Them All. The Rose Bowl will be broadcast exclusively on ABC and on ESPN radio.
This year the economy casts shadow over Rose Parade but doesn't squelch festive spirit. Smaller float-makers this year felt the pinch of rising flower and seed prices and decreasing donations. Paradegoers are scaling back travel plans, but optimism still permeates the event.
When the 120th Rose Parade rolls onto Colorado Boulevard this morning, the really valuable seating will be the free spots on the sidewalk, as the venerable parade and bowl game take a recessionary hit -- albeit one that New Year's revelers are taking with the day's trademark optimism.
Bonnie VanArsdale of Newbury Park was stuck with extra parade tickets after friends from Texas canceled their trip. She attempted to sell two of the tickets on Craigslist.com, but got no takers, so instead she gave them to her grandson, 8, and grandniece, 10.
The good news from float builders and sponsors -- whose main reason for building floats is to promote good news about themselves -- is that many of their flowered creations were planned a year ago and paid for before the financial world collapsed.
The 46 floats in the Rose Parade range from relatively modest $50,000 entries sponsored by local community groups and cities to nearly half-million-dollar, over-the-top floral contraptions with animated appendages. Builders of the more extravagant entries say they haven't been affected by changing prices or the bad economy.
Tim Estes of Fiesta Parade Floats, which built a dozen floats for today's parade, said that the economy has not dampened his clients' enthusiasm for the parade. "A number of them are eager to get going again," he said.
But smaller organizations and cities have felt the pinch, scrambling to trim costs or fill budget gaps.
In West Covina, businesses that had pledged financial support to the city's Rose Float Foundation, including several auto dealers, had to scale back donations. A fundraiser to "sponsor a rose"-- which typically brings in a few thousand dollars -- garnered only a few hundred in 2008. And residents who could have donated a few extra dollars each month to the group through their trash bills largely opted out.
That left the foundation in a bind, said executive vice president Chris Freeland. Perhaps the sale of "rose float potpourri" from flowers salvaged from the float after New Year's Day will help.
"We're grasping at whatever," Freeland said.