2010 Rose Parade preparations

A group of joggers gets in an early workout along Colorado Boulevard prior to the start of the parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Kimberly Hernandez, left, Juan Alfaro and Alyssa Hernandez rest and try to stay warm as they wait for the start of the parade.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Cousins Steven Balles, center, and Vanessa Gutierrez, right, both from Corona, watch the activity along Colorado Boulevard as they wait for the parade to begin.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Veronica Calderon huddles against the morning chill as she waits for the parade to start along Colorado Boulevard.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Angel Munoz pushes a souvenir cart near the parade route just after dawn.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Terry Russell from Columbus, Ohio, displays support for his team as he waits for the start of the parade.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Parade-goers huddle under blankets as wait for the action to begin along Colorado Boulevard.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Alexis Sanchez, 10, from Victorville rests as he waits for the parade to start along Colorado Boulevard. It’s his first Rose Parade, and he and his dad, Robert Sanchez, have been waiting along the parade route since 11 a.m. Thursday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Danny Orallana, 5, of Los Angeles tries to keep warm while he waits for the beginning of the parade. He and his mother staked out their spot on the parade route at 9 a.m. Thursday.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Isiah Avalar, 9, from Norwalk sleeps on a cot prior to the start of the parade.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Brian Bautista, 11, of Irvine manages to catch some sleep next to a busy Pasadena street while waiting for Friday’s Rose Parade.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Liz McKelvey, left, and Samantha Smith, both 17, bundle up under a snowflake-patterned blanket, while Kaydence Tiffin, 4, gets a warm hug from mom Brandi Tiffin of Apple Valley as they all prepare to spend the night on a Pasadena street to await Friday’s Rose Parade.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Farmers Insurance Group salutes the bands participating in the Tournament of Roses with its float featuring a majestic drum major. Finishing touches were being added to this float and others.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The hand of Chuck Penrod, 61, far right, keeps the trombone of Sam Shepard, 19, in line with his bandmates as the Ohio State School for the Blind Marching Panthers prepare to play during the judging of the Lions Club International float for the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. Penrod is one of more than 30 “marching assistants” who walk with the band members, keeping them in line and providing any assistance they need while on the parade route. The band, which formed in 2005, is the parade’s first blind marching band.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Andrew Ayala, 4, right, and sister Giselle, 2, make themselves at home on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena to wait for the Rose Parade to pass their way New Year’s morning.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

John Buckner wears a balloon hat as he waits Thursday along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena for Friday’s Rose Parade. Thousands of people will spend the night along the parade route to ensure that they get prime spots for the New Year’s Day spectacle.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A bird in flight attracts the attention of a woman taking pictures in the Rose Palace in Pasadena, where several floats are being built for the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteers apply glue to tiny flowers being used for lettering on the floats being built at the Rose Palace for the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Final preparations and finishing touches are underway in the Rose Palace in Pasadena, where several Rose Parade floats are being built. A small army of volunteers are helping the professional builders from Phoenix Decorating Co. to affix thousands of flowers to the floats.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Float workers Yona Roberts and Misty Harlan work on the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California float at the Rose Palace in Pasadena.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteers and float builders scramble to finish the city of Alhambra’s float at the Rose Palace in Pasadena.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Fresh flowers are carried into Pasadena’s Rosemont Pavilion, where floats are under construction for the Rose Parade.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Mastro carries a giant parrot made of flowers that is part of the Cal Poly universities’ Rose Parade float, “Jungle Cuts,” which is under construction inside a tent in a parking lot near the Rose Bowl.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Seattle residents, from left, Sheila Goodwin, Teri Mixell and Fran Falkenberry glue on carnation petals to create hair for a monkey that is part of the Cal Poly universities’ float, “Jungle Cuts.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Mastro adds a piece of bark to a tree, covering a mechanism that operates a swinging monkey that is part of the Cal Poly universities’ float, “Jungle Cuts.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

A mural of a Tuskegee airman made out of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, rice, onion, dock weed and crushed pecan shells is part of West Covina’s float, “Tuskegee Airmen: A Cut Above.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

West Covina’s float has a mural depicting Tuskegee Airman George “Spanky” Roberts, who commanded a fighter squadron and flew 78 combat missions over Europe during World War II.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Shellee Hintz of Minnesota shares a laugh with Granville “Duke” Coggs, 85, of San Antonio, a B-25 bombardier at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Ala., in 1945. He is among 16 Tuskegee Airmen who will ride on West Covina’s float paying tribute to the famed, all-black group of World War II servicemen.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Granville “Duke” Coggs was a B-25 bombardier in 1945. Now 85, he was signing autographs for volunteers helping build the West Covina float that will pay tribute to him and other members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Marge Irwin of Nebraska carries a box of carnations to the RFD-TV float at the Rosemont Pavilion in Pasadena.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Crystal Ogden of Prescott, Ariz., applies carnations to the side of the RFD-TV Rose Parade float, “Future Farmers of America.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Ricky Wen applies chrysanthemums to the American Honda float, “Ship of Dreams,” at the Rosemont Pavilion.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Tom Prober of Altadena applies purple status flowers to the Trader Joe’s float, “Look Ma No Hands,” at the Rosemont Pavilion.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jaime Herrera, left, of Pasadena and Faviola Aguirre of Glendale try to stay dry while saving spots for friends and family along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena two days before the Rose Parade.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Security guard Cynthia Barnett keeps watch over broadcasting facilities on Orange Grove Boulevard that will be used to televise the Rose Parade.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Jaime Herrera, left, and Don Greathouse, both of Pasadena, watch as a police officer tells a woman that she cannot save a parade-viewing spot along Colorado Boulevard until Thursday at noon.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Pat Camp, left, and Ella Goodwyn, both from Canton, Ga., protect themselves from the rain as they get in line to view Rose Parade floats under construction at the Rosemont Pavilion.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Sandy Kloetzke, center, from New Richmond, Wis., uses her jacket to cover up from the rain while waiting in line to view the Rose Parade floats under construction at the Rosemont Pavilion.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

John Kendall, left, and Patrick Ward put a notice on a RV on a Pasadena street. They are part of Parade Watch Program 2010, inspecting motorhomes that are in Pasadena for the Rose Parade and requesting owners of the vehicles to alert the police to potentially hazardous conditions.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Stores along Colorado Boulevard offer merchandise associated with the parade and the Rose Bowl game between the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

A lighted walkway beneath the bleachers at Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards provides a path to Green Street.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Crews construct the ABC television booth high above the intersection of Colorado and Orange Grove boulevards.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Carson High senior Emmanuel Salomon, 17, is framed by flags during practice with the LAUSD All City Honor Marching Band for its upcoming appearance at the Rose Parade on Jan. 1.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the All City Honor Marching Band prepare for their Tournament of Roses performance.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A unique perspective on the young L.A. band musicians, thanks to a well-polished sousaphone.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Rocco Martinez, 4, snaps a photo of a likeness of Tuskegee Airman Charles Alfred Anderson, part of West Covina’s float in the Tournament of Roses Parade. The city’s float, being readied on the grounds of the Rose Bowl, pays tribute to the pioneering African American aviators of World War II.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteers work to complete floats by the start of the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Marcy Pellegrini and her daughter Rachael get a close look at the Budweiser Clydesdales on Monday at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. The famed Clydesdales and other show horses participating in the Tournament of Roses Parade were available for viewing at the center, which is next to Griffith Park.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Classic automobiles that will transport dignitaries along the route of the Rose Parade are prepped Monday at a tent on the Rose Bowl grounds in Pasadena. Millions are expected to view the parade live and on television on New Year’s Day.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Todd Reese of Reno glues seeds to Farmers Insurance Group’s float, “Salute to the Bands,” in Pasadena. It features a 60-foot-tall animated bugler.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteers Carol Troyer, left, Don Troyer and Cecelia Bates attach seeds to the city of Alhambra’s float, “On Track in 2010,” at the Rose Palace in Pasadena.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Alhambra float features a reproduction of a Red Car trolley.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteers unpack thousands of flowers for the floats. Carolynn Jones, foreground, brought her mother, Sue Thomas, center, from Birmingham, Ala., as a surprise gift. Thomas, a retired florist, said it was a lifelong dream to work on a Rose Parade float -- an item on her bucket list. Next on the list for Thomas, 79: hiking the Grand Tetons.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Teams of volunteers work on the floats at the Rose Palace. The Tournament of Roses’ theme banner float, “2010 -- A Cut Above the Rest,” sits at the entrance of the warehouse.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)