Santa Ana : Volunteers Begin Work on Rose Parade Float

A volunteer effort that city officials say will involve as many as 500 people has begun in construction of the city’s 1987 Rose Parade float.

Residents began weekend trips to Pasadena to work on the “Folklorico!” float before Thanksgiving Day and will continue working right up to New Year’s Eve, said Dori Owen, city community events manager.

The final two days before the New Year’s Day spectacle will require many volunteers working in shifts from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Float builders also have to pay $5 per trip for the bus ride to Pasadena and help defray the costs of the estimated $80,000 project. In return for their toil, they will receive free parade sweat shirts and a discount on official parade pins, Owen said.

The float will depict Southern California’s Latino heritage, with six 17-foot-high, animated figures in native costumes representing four states in Mexico--Jalisco, Oaxaca, Yucatan and Puebla. A giant serape will wind around the dancers.

A number of corporations and individuals already have donated about $30,000 to pay for the effort. More fund raising, as well as pin sales, will continue up to New Year’s Day, parade committee chairman Tom Bay said.

For more information on the volunteer effort, call the city’s Community Events Center at (714) 647-6561.