Creating some ‘float’ing magic
Molly Shore
When Burbank’s Rose Parade float travels down Colorado Boulevard in
Pasadena on New Year’s Day, an estimated 562 volunteers will be
cheering for “Moosic, Moosic, Moosic,” the entry they helped create.
On Monday, dozens of volunteers worked feverishly to put the
finishing touches on the city’s 69th float entry, which features a
bronco-riding balladeer keeping an eye on a herd of grazing cows,
while prairie dogs catch the attention of the cowpoke’s trusty hound.
Just as she has done for the past six years, Burbank resident Pat
Johnson carefully applied crushed walnut shells, seeds, onion, carrot
seeds and black beans to the letters spelling out the float’s name.
“I started the day after Christmas on the [float] letters,”
Johnson said Monday.
Other volunteers were busy applying brown palm fiber on the cows’
hoofs, green moss where the cows graze, and pastel-colored dried
versilia roses to accentuate the cowpoke’s skin tone.
For West Hills resident Peg Kovar, the excitement grew from week
to week as she watched the float near completion.
“Whenever I come in, there’s always something new on the float,”
Kovar said Monday as volunteers put the finishing touches on the
float.
Kovar, a float volunteer for 11 years, is doing double duty this
year. She is vice president of administration for the Burbank
Tournament of Roses Assn., and helped recruit many of this year’s
volunteers.
“When they ask me for people, I find them,” Kovar said. “The best
part is meeting the people and making sure they come back again.”
In addition to local residents, volunteers from other parts of the
country have answered Kovar’s call.
Aurora, W.Va., resident Beverly Myers, 62; sister Doris Denison,
68, of Palm Beach, Fla.; and their friend Marie Askar, 73, of Dania
Beach, Fla., arrived in Burbank Dec. 23, and went to work as
volunteers the day after Christmas.
“I think it’s great,” Myers said. “We’ve met a lot of people and
learned about the local area.”