Welcoming the New Year watching the Rose Bowl Parade

Watching the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California is the perfect way to welcome in the New Year….and recover from New Year’s celebrations the night before.  After flicking back and forth on the channels we settled on watching the parade on the Hallmark Channel, broadcast by KTLA Channel 5.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photo credit

I love parades.  I love marching in parades.  Not too many people know and most have forgotten, I was a twirler in high school, not a very good one.  But I never dropped the batons in a parade or on the football field.  I also played the bagpipes in an Irish pipe band.  Again I wasn’t the best piper they had, but neither was I the worst.  But marching up the avenue with a band is a great feeling. And I try not to miss watching the Rose Bowl Parade.

Hallmark and KTLA had a live and delayed broadcast and it appeared that all the floats, horse units, and bands were given air time and what a sound!!

The networks were so busy promoting their upcoming line-ups and the stars of their sit-com’s that they forgot to show much of the parade. Neither CBS nor NBS had much or any coverage of the equestrian units, pretty amazing considering there were at least 21 horse units in the parade. The sound quality on the networks was awful – sure you could hear the hosts promoting their books and talking about their families – but someone forgot to put a microphone down on Orange Grove or Colorado Boulevard  so that “folks at home” could hear the incredible bands.

Rose Bowl Parade Floats 2013: credit Getty Photos

Hallmark and KTLA had a live and delayed broadcast and it appeared that all the floats, horse units, and bands were given air time and what a sound!!

The Rose Bowl is my favorite parade, even though I’ve never been. It has everything a parade should have. 

·        Great weather - It’s Southern California in January - what more can I say?

·        Beautiful floats – all made totally from flowers – or rather “organic matter”.

·        Great Bands – high school, college, international, police, military

·        Horses  and riders

Rose Bowl Parade Floats in 2012 Credit: (Getty Photo)

Some trivia:  The Pasadena Tournament of Roses consists of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the football game. This was the  124^th Tournament of Roses Parade, which began in 1895,  the football game was added in 1902 to help fund the parade.