BURBANK/GLENDALE : Cities’ Floats Carry Pride of Volunteers

As the countdown to Monday’s Tournament of Roses Parade ticked away, volunteers worked briskly Thursday to put finishing touches on the floats representing the cities of Burbank and Glendale.

“At the rate we’re going, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were done tomorrow,” said David Weaver, chairman of Glendale’s float development committee.

The theme of this year’s parade, “Quest for Excellence,” has brought a plethora of floats with sports motifs. Glendale’s float will feature nine river rafts, with the first carrying Mayor Eileen Givens.

The other eight rafts will feature residents, who reportedly paid about $600 each for the privilege of riding in the parade.

Glendale paid the Bent Float Co. of Pasadena about $60,000 to build the frame and mechanics for its creation, but most of the decorative work has been done by volunteers, Weaver said.

Seniors, church groups and homeowners associations have spent time at home cutting up the dried flowers and material used to blanket the float’s exterior, while still more volunteers will help finish the float with live flowers.

“We’re trying to make the float 100% Glendale-decorated,” Weaver said. “We hope to have a shot at the theme prize, because we’re right in line with the theme of the parade.”

Last year, Glendale’s “Whale’s Tail” won the Mayor’s Trophy for the best float entered by a city of its size.

Meanwhile, as many as 400 volunteers were working in a building near the Burbank power plant, finishing off “Reach for the Wind,” their city’s Rose Parade entry--one of only six that is still entirely built and decorated by volunteers.

The float, which depicts three sailboats rushing through the waves amid playful sea animals, was designed by Burbank resident Jennifer Edward, who also serves as decorative chairwoman for the city’s float committee.

Edward’s design was chosen in a contest in which more than 100 designs were submitted, including some from across the country.

“It’s quite a coincidence because not only am I the lucky person whose design is chosen, but I’m also responsible for decorating the float,” Edward said.

Although the building of the frame and the purchase of flowers from as far away as Holland, South America, Thailand, Hawaii and other places amount to large expenses, Burbank saves money by also recruiting local people to donate cactus, orchids, birds of paradise and other flowers grown in their yards, she said.

Edward said Burbank has a 60-year history of volunteer-built floats, although it did try farming out the work to a private company for a few years several decades ago.

On Thursday, two Girl Scout troops and a group of honors students from John Burroughs High School were on hand to help apply flowers.

In all, about six community organizations and dozens of individuals have been involved in planning and building the float throughout the year, Edward said.

“It’s completely built, designed and decorated by scads of volunteers,” she said. “If we were to pay a company to build our float, we couldn’t get one like this done for less than $100,000, and we love it so much that we just continue to do it this way.”

In addition to the two cities’ floats, several private companies in the Glendale-Burbank area will be fielding floats in Monday’s parade, including the 1928 Jewelry Company, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Co., IHOP Corp. and Disney.