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.”