Rose Parade : Waiting’s Almost Over for the Fans

David Haddow used one blanket as ground cover, and another to shade the two-inch TV screen of his Sony Watchman. The 22-year-old Glendora man was lounging beside Pasadena’s Orange Grove Boulevard on Wednesday, watching a re-run of “Barney Miller” and waiting for today’s Rose Parade. He was getting paid $50 for holding the spot.

Ginger Shoemaker of Centennial, Wyo. (population: 50) was down the street at a vacant lot-turned-RV park. “I think perhaps I will be the first person from Centennial to see the parade,” Shoemaker, 63, said with pride. She plans to hold up a sign saying “Hello, Centennial” for the TV cameras.

Gregory, whose last name is confidential, was clipping stems from chrysanthemums over at a float-decorating site in Brookside Park. The 10-year-old boy seemed nervous awaiting the New Year, when he will represent the United States on a Kiwanis International float titled “The Children of the World.” A ward of Los Angeles County, Gregory will also symbolize children who are seeking adoption.

They were among the thousands of people who gathered in Pasadena Wednesday to stake their claims to prime viewing areas for the 98th Tournament of Roses. After more than a year in the making, the parade is scheduled to begin at 8:20 a.m. today, with a procession of 59 floats and 22 marching bands traveling the 5 1/2-mile route from Orange Grove to Colorado Boulevard and on to Sierra Madre Boulevard. According to the unvarying estimate of Pasadena police, another 999,997 people will be in town for the parade and football game that follow, give or take a few hundred thousand.

Another convention should be observed, too: no rain on the big parade. Forecasts called for a partly cloudy day with morning temperatures in Pasadena in the low 40s, rising to the upper 60s during the day.

“Everything’s going pretty good,” Pasadena Police Lt. Lynn Froistad said late Wednesday. Thus far, there had been 22 arrests, most for public intoxication.

As Haddow, Shoemaker and Gregory illustrate, the Rose Parade means different things to different people. Like the parade itself, the bustling day-before-the-parade has become a tradition in Pasadena.

True, most parade early birds just lounge there, reading books and magazines, listening to radios, watching portable TVs, eating immense quantities of food, especially of the junk variety.

Elegance, Rowdies

Others seek to make it a festive occasion. In front of an antique shop on Colorado, some viewers had prepared elegantly, at a table set with white linen and crystal. Over on Orange Grove, a group of rowdies unleashed fusillades of marshmallows at passing cars; the blacktop became decorated in white polka dots.

Elsewhere, crews of volunteers hustled to get the floats ready, working by hand to clip, pick and apply millions of flower petals for the extravagant designs. The workers of Crown Fence Co. stretched thousands of feet of temporary chain-link fencing to protect private property from the crowds.

The media does its part, too, with more than half a dozen TV crews bivouacked on the grounds of Tournament House, the old Wrigley Mansion, setting up cameras and sets and stretching wires across the lawn.

They will beam the event by satellite to a worldwide audience estimated at 350 million. But on Wednesday there was a more pressing concerns.

“What are you trying to hook up?” one technician called to another dragging an extension cord.

“Oh,” came the reply, “it’s for a coffee pot.”

Four Generations

At an impromptu RV camp at Orange Grove and California boulevards, four generations of the Makhorn family of Torrance occupied a giant motor home borrowed from a friend. They paid $75 for the spot on the vacant lot.

Ann Makhorn, 53, remembered that when she was a child her father would bring a ladder to help her see the parade. Now, after witnessing about 35 of the last 50 Rose Parades, Makhorn figures that the RV is the best way to see the procession.

“I’ve tried to come in the morning (of parade day), but with little kids, it’s terrible. They get too grouchy before it starts,” she said.

At the RV next door, Judy Chapman of St. Paul, Minn., was looking forward to her first parade. Her family had planned the California trip for a while, in part to escape the frigid Minnesota winters. Usually it’s about 20-below in St. Paul at New Year’s, she said, but there has been a virtual heat wave back home, with temperatures in the 30s.

“We’re disappointed that they’re not freezing back there,” she said. “It’s too bad.”

Over at Brookside Park, another story was unfolding. Tony Brodnick of Kiwanis International proudly took visitors to meet Gregory, who will bring special meaning to the “Children of the World” float.

Winnie Jackson, community affairs officer for the county’s Department of Children Services, approached Kiwanis with the idea of placing a county ward on the float as a way of illustrating the needs of foster children. The Kiwanis agreed, Pepsi-Cola paid the sponsorship fee and Gregory was selected for this duty because of his outgoing personality, Jackson said. Still a ward of the county, Gregory is in the process of being adopted by Ollie Brown of Long Beach. They have been together two months, and Brown said that he is now “waiting for the final paper work.” Brown, who is single, stood nearby, holding the costume of a frontier gentleman that Gregory will wear in the parade.

“When I told him about the chance to do this, that he would represent all the children who are up for adoption, a chance to speak for all of them, he said, ‘Yeah, I can handle that,’ ” Jackson recalled laughing.

On Wednesday, however, the 10-year-old had few comments for the press. He seemed much more interested in building a float.