Rose Parade

"Tournament of Roses Parade" redirects here. For the English collegiate sports competition, see Roses Tournament. For the set of parades in Portland, Oregon, see Portland Rose Festival.

The leading float during the 2017 Rose Parade

The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if New Year's Day falls on a Sunday).

Produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, the parade usually starts at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC–8), and includes flower-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrian units. The parade is followed in the afternoon by the Rose Bowl, one of the major bowl games in college football. It has been uninterrupted except during World War II in 1942, 1943, and 1945, and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

First held on January 1, 1890, the Rose Parade is watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators.[2][3] The Rose Bowl college football game was added in 1902 to help fund the cost of staging the parade.[4] Since 2011, Honda has been a presenting sponsor of the Rose Parade.[5] Accordingly, the company has the parade's first float, which like all floats, follows the parade's theme.

  1. ^ Pasadena Tournament of Roses Unable to Host 2021 Rose Parade on New Year's Day, Pasadena Tournament of Roses, July 15. 2020
  2. ^ "Big crowd, but who's counting?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  3. ^ 2009 Tournament Times, a publication of Tournament of Roses Association
  4. ^ Grady, Mary L. (September 24, 2010). "Mercer Island High School Marching Band to march in 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade". Mercer Island Reporter. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010.
  5. ^ "The Pasadena Tournament of Roses". Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Retrieved December 25, 2011.