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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

What to see on New Year's Day Celebrations 2021: Rose Festivals and parades in Pasadena USA, on TV



Parade in Pasadena
The Parade of The Roses takes place every year in Pasadena, which is just over ten miles north of the downtown (central) area of Los Angeles, USA. Pasadena is a separate city nestling under the mountains. 

The parade is five miles long. It features floats adorned with roses and marching bands from all over the USA and attracts visitors from all over the world. Expect to see huge floats of roses, horseback riders, marching bands.

Roses at Pasadena.

Horses parade.

Marching bands.

Resourcing Roses

Roses - in January? Apparently, they come from South America, from Ecuador. The country's name means on the equator.

Cancellation?

But in 2021 the show will be online. Why was it cancelled for New Year's Day 2021? This is not a last minute decision. The cancellation had to take place months earlier. They start planning the parade as early as February the previous year. The same goes for most major carnivals and parades, such as London's Notting Hill Carnival, in England, and the Rio Carnival in Brazil. The Pasadena people chose to go online for the following reasons. 

1 People such as the volunteers don't just meet up on the day. During the year for the preparations numerous people have to get together, organizers, performers, fund raisers, float designers and builders, volunteers. 

2 On the day numerous people mingle, especially the spectators. 

3 Many people fly into the USA, California, potentially bringing Covid-19 with them, and being exposed to it. They might import it to Pasadena.

4 Afterwards many people fly off around the USA and overseas. They may be taking it with them. They might catch it travelling en route.

5 Even if the organizers agreed to go ahead, the event could be cancelled at the last moment by changing circumstances or government rules. This would mean months of wasted effort,  disappointment, law suits, etc.

6 Safety and health comes first. 

7 The good news is they have alternative plans for the TV show featuring film stars. The show is sponsored by Honda.  One star you might know is Rita Moreno.

Rita the dancer.

In West Side Story.

Meeting President Bush.

President Bush presented her with a medal., the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2004.

Star Rita Moreno

Several stars lined up for the TV show include Puerto Rican Rita Moreno who starred in West Side Story. She has received many awards. She was in last year's parade, energetically dancing, in January 2020. The parade end with lots of dancing and singing, dancers on floats and spectators dancing by their seats.

Where can you see it?

Several US stations will be broadcasting it.

In years when January the first falls on a Sunday the parade might be held on a Monday because worldwide people are given Monday as an extra holiday because Sunday would in any case be a day off work.

What does it cost

To build a float costs a lot of money. Also a fee per float is paid to the   the organizers. http://phoenixdeco.com/ublic can pay for a seat on the stands. It is free to stand on the sidewalk (which is called the pavement in the UK).

Later Rose Parade Event in June

Another parade event called the Portland Rose Festival is held to promote Portland, Oregon, USA, in June, also cancelled in 2020 because of Covid-19, but could be resumed in 2021 or later. Features which made my eyes light up were the dragon boat event and the event notepaper with roses.

Dragon boat, in Portland, Oregon, USA.

In the year 2021, January 1st is a Friday.

MORE INFORMATION about Pasadena and the Parade from these Useful Websites.

www.visitpasadena.com

Builder and decorator of floats

http://phoenixdeco.com/

wikipedia 

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Moreno

wikitravel

wikivoyage

tripadvisor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Rose_Festival

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, fashionista. Please share links to your favourite posts or one or more of the blogs

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com


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