Rose Parade to kick off after COVID attendance slump

The 135th Rose Parade is set to kick off Monday as the world ushers in the start of 2024.

With its petal-packed floats, marching bands and high-stepping horses, the New Year’s Day event is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and will travel 5 1/2 miles along the streets of Pasadena.

The theme this year is “Celebrating a World of Music: The Universal Language,” a message of hope and harmony in a time of war, labor strikes, and partisan political strife as a contentious American election year begins.

“In a world of different cultures, beliefs, hopes, and dreams, one language unites us all — music,” Alex Aghajanian, president of the Tournament of Roses, said in a statement. “The sound, texture, rhythm, form, harmony, and expression meld together to move, soothe, excite and delight the world.”

The grand marshal will be actress and singer Audra McDonald, a six-time Tony Award-winner.

Early Monday, hours before the start of the parade, the air along Colorado Boulevard smelled of bacon-wrapped hot dogs — a street vendor staple along the route.

Jackie Ventura, from left, Monserrat Zavala, and Emilo Grimaldo, wait in the brisk morning, for the start of the 135th Tournament of Roses Parade.

(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)

Spectators were bundled up against the early-morning chill. Children watched YouTube videos on cellphones, and adults sipped Champagne and coffee.

The most hard-core parade viewers camped along the route to secure front-row spots as temperatures dipped into the 40s .

Daniel Caballeor, 63, who has been coming to the Rose Parade for two decades, was part of a five-family rotation that staked out a place on East Colorado Boulevard at 6 a.m. Sunday, more than a whole day before the event. He sat amid makeshift beds and lawn chairs clustered together.

“My kids are in college; the young people grew out of, it and they’re not taking interest, so somebody had to stay out here,” he said.

It was chilly, just 45 degrees at 6 a.m., but he said that what keeps him coming year after year are the Southern California bragging rights — the kind of famously mild winter that Pasadena boosters wanted to show off when they started the parade as a promotional event in 1890.

“The rest of the country, they’re snowed in and there’s crazy weather but usually it’s a beautiful day here on New Year’s,” Caballeor said.

Security during the parade will be tight. Law enforcement agencies say they are prepared for potential protests, from people calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — who have been disrupting traffic in recent weeks near Los Angeles International Airport — to Pasadena hotel workers who went on strike Sunday, during the city’s biggest tourist weekend of the year.

The city of Pasadena has been working with numerous law enforcement and emergency organizations, said Lisa Derderian, a spokeswoman for the city. The Rose Parade is considered a high-level event, which triggers support from federal agencies in security planning, she said.

“We planned for a worst-case scenario but hope for a beautiful, peaceful parade and game,” Derderian said.

The Pasadena Police Department said it will implement enhanced security along the parade route. Officers will expel parade-goers who violate the law or disturb the parade, and K-9 units will be patrolling Colorado Boulevard.

Parade organizers are hoping for a return to gigantic crowds it once boasted — with upwards of 700,000 spectators — after a COVID slump that saw the parade canceled in 2021 and ticket sales plunge in 2022.

Banda Municipal de Zarcero, Costa Rica tries to stay warm under mylar blankets before the Tournament of Roses Parade.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

The weather is looking good, said David Eads, Tournament of Roses chief executive, Michigan and Alabama’s football teams have fan bases that travel well, and the parade’s “Celebrating a World of Music” theme and expanded performances have broad appeal.

Sindee Riboli, president and general manager of Sharp Seating Co., which sells the parade’s grandstand seating and the tournament’s special event tickets such as Floatfest and Bandfest, was optimistic about this year’s parade. While she’s not convinced 2024 will rival pre-pandemic attendance, she’s confident peak crowds will return.

“We will eventually hit those numbers again. It’s just going to take a few years,” she said. “I am hopeful.”

Kate Russell and Jennifer Colvin, both wearing crimson and white sweaters with the Alabama Crimson Tide logo, traveled more than 2,000 miles from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Pasadena, where they will watch the Rose Bowl game after the parade.

Colvin’s son, Ira, is a freshman trombone player who will be marching with the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band. The women, who work together, sat in the grandstands to cheer him on.

“We’re very excited to make the trip to the game and parade, and we‘re excited when we see other Alabama fans … When we see them we have to shout, ‘Roll Tide!’ ” Russell said.

Russell wore a button reading, “Make Michigan Our B—tchigan,” which, she said, was getting a lot of attention and hollers of approval from other Alabama fans.

Growing up, Donna Patton, 58, always watched the Rose Parade on television with her family in her Texas home, which always smelled of cinnamon rolls and coffee. Now living in Aurora, Colo., Patton wanted to experience it in real life.

Eugene Gardner sells Michigan and Alabama memorabilia before the Rose Parade.

(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)

“It’s a celebration, a connection to home and family and different parts of the country,” said Patton, a youth pastor who came to the parade by herself. “It’s about coming together and being happy, regardless of differences.”

Patton’s flight landed Sunday night, and she got to her spot on Colorado Boulevard and North Hill Avenue at 9 p.m. The community feeling was already there, she said.

The group next to her — there to watch a family member ride a horse in the parade — took her in, replacing her blue, airport-purchased blanket with a foldable chair and fluffy brown blanket, and they introduced her to bacon-wrapped hotdogs.

As the Goodyear blimp flew overhead, she pointed excitedly, and oooed. This excitement, she said, was why she traded the TV screen for the real thing this year.

“Sometimes we hold back on doing new adventures,” Patton said. She had recently gone through a divorce and was now ready to branch out and connect with others.

Mary Soucey, 82, sat beside a space heater and a ping pong table near Terrace Drive as the morning sky began to lighten.

The Rose Parade has a special meaning for Soucey and her family. She married her husband, Paul, in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009, near Colorado Boulevard ahead of the start of the Rose Parade.

They met at a roller rink. Paul said he could immediately sense Mary’s kindness, and “if you find the right mate — thank God for that.”

Just feet from the spot where they were wed, the couple camped overnight with their 39-year-old daughter and a few friends.

“My husband has been coming here for 40 years, and he got me started,” said Soucey said, who traveled from Buena Park to watch the parade.

They brought camping cots, tarps and plenty of layers.

“We refuse to be uncomfortable,” Paul said. “To have fun at the Rose Parade, you have to prepare.”