Verdugo Views: Participants get on board for Glendale float’s journey

It was 5:15 a.m. on New Year’s Day and a chilly 42 degrees as my husband, Glenn, and I met other float riders at Glendale City Hall. Our city’s float was back after missing the previous year.

Patty Betancourt, with the Community Services and Parks Department, welcomed us, and we climbed into a van driven by Glendale Police officer Mike Ryan. He took us on a circuitous route to Orange Grove Boulevard — the staging area for Pasadena’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

We parked on Wigmore Drive, at the end of a long line of floats lit up by huge spotlights. With instructions to check in at 7:30 a.m., we joined hundreds of walkers, pausing to watch as the royal court left the Tournament House in the predawn darkness.

The sun had risen when we met our white-suited tournament member Laurie Rambeau, who inspected our IDs before placing orange “participant” bands on our wrists.

Float driver Joe Pacilio introduced himself, while our spotter, his wife, Lulu, peeked out from her perch to say “hello.”

We were in one of two yellow convertibles. Behind us, on a tandem bike, were Tri Fritz and his daughter Sarah, who said she was very excited.

“It’s going to be really fun,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to being on national television.

Behind them, on another tandem bike, were Mike and Lori Silao. It was her post on a community website that led to getting the float back. She later emailed how proud she was to represent our city.

“Glendale is hometown to my children, and I feel so passionate about what the float represents to not only our city, but especially to our kids,” she wrote.

Their children, Olivia and Evan, on another tandem bike on the opposite side, helped decorate.

Olivia later emailed that she spent so much time on the float (more than 40 hours), that she felt she had become part of it. Evan liked the excitement of adding flowers in the last few moments before judging began at Phoenix Decorating Co. on New Year’s Eve morning.

Rachel Fritz and Pat Trytten sat in another yellow car, while honorary chair Melody Rogers of “2 On The Town” fame, along with Bill and Cindy Slaughter and Cathy Nicksin climbed up to the tender. Bob Nicksin was in the engineer’s seat, sporting the overalls and hat he picked up at Travel Town in Griffith Park.

Rambeau and other white suiters called the shots as the parade began, and marching bands and equestrian units entered from side streets.

At about 9:15 a.m., near Del Mar Boulevard, Phoenix employees swarmed our float, tweaking the controls. And with that, we were “on.” The wheels and pistons turned, smoke rose, the airplane propeller began spinning and our song, “Getting There Is Half the Fun,” performed by Glendale Community College’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble, began.

Then, we were at Colorado Boulevard, with television cameras and huge spotlights and grandstands filled with people. As the bikers pedaled, Bob Nicksin tipped his hat, and the rest of us waved.

With camera lights in our eyes, we continued waving and smiling as we turned past the viewing stands and continued along the boulevard. Hundreds of Glendalians greeted us enthusiastically, some running out to have their picture taken as we went by.

Five and a half hours after we boarded, we reached the end of the line and climbed off our float, agreeing it had been the thrill of a lifetime.

Later, in follow-up emails, fellow riders shared their thoughts. Cathy Nicksin remembered the 5.5 miles of smiling, waving people, and Rogers said it was an “exhilarating experience.”

Reflecting on recent events, Trytten noted in his email, “During a time when there seems to be so much anger, fear and mistrust in the world, it was refreshing to see so many people getting along and coming together to just have fun.”

Cindy Badell-Slaughter, who coordinated much of the float committee’s activities, wrote, “From Jan. 2, 2015, when the first seed to bring back our float was planted, to traveling the parade route with people cheering and dancing to our song, it was a truly thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

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KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., second floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.