The story
Rose Parade in Pasadena
Every New Year's morning, Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard fills with flower-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrian units for the Rose Parade, staged by the nonprofit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association since January 1, 1890. The parade precedes the Rose Bowl college football game each afternoon, together forming one of the oldest continuously held New Year traditions in the United States.
On January 1, 1890, members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers and paraded them down a dirt road, an event conceived partly to advertise Southern California's mild winters to relatives and friends shivering through snow back east.