Category: Rose Parade

To view the full press release, click here.

California Flowers Front and Center

on Tournament of Roses Parade ® Entries

CA GROWN certification ceremony kicks off Rose Parade festivities

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 27, 2017— Entries from Cal Poly Universities, FTD Companies Inc., Mane Attraction Drill Team and the Tournament of Roses Police Department’s motorcycle unit will all be adorned with California Grown flowers when they take to the parade route in Pasadena Jan. 1, 2018, for the annual Rose Parade.

 In an appropriate nod to the origin of the parade – created to showcase the bounty of what’s growing in California when the rest of the country is snowbound – the floral-adorned motorcycle unit will be the first entry in the parade, leading off the entire event.

“The Tournament of Roses takes pride in supporting California Grown agricultural products showcased in the Rose Parade. The founding members of the Tournament of Roses began the parade to tell the world about our paradise. Now, 129 years later, we’re still making California proud,” said David Eads, executive director and CEO, Pasadena Tournament of Roses.

The four parade entries will receive their official California Grown certification at a ceremony officiated by California Secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture Karen Ross on Dec. 31 in Pasadena. The California Grown Certification Program recognizes parade floats and entries decorated with more than 85 percent of cut flowers and greens from the Golden State.

The ceremony will recognize Cal Poly Universities for the seventh year in a row and FTD for the fourth year. The motorcycle unit and the equestrian unit will be Certified California Grown for the first time.

The eight Tournament of Roses Police Department motorcycles are expected to feature roses, iris and chamomile.

FTD, the Official Floral Partner of the Tournament of Roses, has a 60-year history of participating in the Rose Parade. The storied floral and gifting company will use a variety of California Grown flowers to decorate its five VIP parade vehicles.

The float from California State Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo and California State Polytechnic University at Pomona is titled “Dreams Take Flight” and will feature baby animals flying airplanes amid a whimsical landscape.

The float will showcase more California Grown flower varieties than ever before thanks to a deck design that allows for large mixed arrangements in addition to the chrysanthemums and gerberas that cover the float’s characters. More than 97 percent of the float will be covered in California Grown flowers that were donated by many of the state’s flower farmers. Students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo grew and dried the statice and straw flower used on the float.

The Tournament of Roses Parade® is a New Year’s tradition where nearly a million visitors line Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena to view the beautiful floats first hand, and millions more watch from their homes across the country. The California floral industry has a $12.2 billion annual impact on the state’s economy. California’s flower farmers represent over 4,500 jobs and contribute $1.7 million to California’s economy every day.

# # #

About the California Cut Flower Commission

The California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) unites the state’s approximately 225 flower farmers to advance California’s $320 million flower industry. In addition to providing cooperative marketing opportunities and administering advocacy efforts, the commission has positioned the California Grown brand as a highly recognizable, consumer-facing brand to drive sales of the state’s fresh flowers and foliage. Learn more at ccfc.org.

(more…)

The motorcycles used during the Tournament of Roses parade by the Pasadena Police Department will be joining Cal Poly Universities and FTD as another certified CA Grown parade entry in 2018.

Certification requires that over 85 percent of the flowers and foliage used in the parade entries are grown in California.

“Each year these special motorcycles kick off this iconic parade leading the pack of floats, cars, bands and equestrian entries,” says CCFC CEO & Ambassador Kasey Cronquist. “It just seems fitting that those motorcycles, ridden by Pasadena’s finest, be decorated in all-California Grown Flowers.”

Cal Poly Float to Feature More CA Grown Varieties Than Ever Before

Plans for the first two Certified CA Grown entries at the 2018 Tournament of Roses Parade are already underway, and the ramp up to the New Year’s Day tradition has just begun.

The entries from Cal Poly Universities and FTD Companies Inc. – the first to announce so far – will both feature CA Grown flowers and foliage. Additional CA Grown entries will be announced in coming weeks.

Cal Poly Universities’ float is titled “Dreams Take Flight” and will feature baby animals flying airplanes amid a whimsical landscape. Cal Poly students are currently working on the miniature scale model of the float, and the chrysanthemums that will adorn it are already in the ground due to their 18-week growing cycle.

This year’s float will showcase more CA Grown flower varieties than ever before thanks to a  deck design that allows for large mixed arrangements in addition to the chrysanthemums and gerberas that cover the float’s characters. The chrysanthemums have been generously donated by GroLink Plant Co., while students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are growing (and will dry) the statice and straw flower for the float.

The California Cut Flower Commission’s (CCFC) Anna Kalins, who leads the organization’s Rose Parade efforts, is seeking additional flower donations for the Cal Poly float. In the past, 25 farms have donated flowers to the effort.

Also needed are Rose Parade ambassadors to help at the event itself and in the days leading up.

To donate flowers or volunteer, email Kalins at akalins@ccfc.org.