How many times have you heard someone say, “Everything’s coming up roses,” when life is going well for them? Well in Pasadena California on the first day of the New Year, the term “Everything’s coming up roses,” has an entirely different meaning. It means that it’s time for the annual Tournament of Roses Parade!
The Rose Parade has its origin in 1890 when the members of the Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena, California, got together and decided to sponsor a series of games to celebrate the New Year. The games included equestrian events, polo matches and even an ostrich race. While the rest of the country shivered in winter cold and snow, Pasadena enjoyed Spring-like weather. This resulted in an abundance of flowers which the Club members used to decorate their carriages as they paraded to the games.
By 1895, the New Year’s games had become so popular and so large that it had outgrown the ability of the Valley Hunt Club to oversee it. And so, in that year, the Tournament of Roses Association was established by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce to handle the logistics of the event. By 1900, what had started out as an informal parade of Valley Hunt Club member’s decorated carriages had evolved into the official Rose Parade which included marching bands, motorized floats and equestrian units many of which came from outside of the Pasadena area.
Figure #1 shows an early advertising postcard for the Tournament of Roses from 1911. You will notice that the date given for the Parade that year was January second and not New Year’s Day. That was because of the “Sunday rule”. The “Sunday rule” states that if New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, the Tournament of Roses Parade will be held on the following day so as not to inconvenience patrons who wish to attend church on Sunday, January first.
If any postcard symbolizes the Tournament of Roses Parade, it is the one pictured in Figure #2. From the outset, any float entered into the Tournament had to be decorated with only natural vegetation (flowers, plants, seeds, nuts, bark, vegetables, etc.) The float shown on this postcard was decorated with more than 50,000 natural roses!
In its early days, parade floats were sponsored largely by local institutions. The postcards featured in Figure #3 and Figure #4 were created by the Pasadena High School and by the California Association of Bankers respectively. As time went by, commercial institutions such as the Cunard Shipping Line and the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children sponsored floats. More recently, the Tournament went international with floats, bands or equestrian units from Sweden, Canada, and Mexico to name but a few.
Over the years, many famous people have been selected to be the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade. In 1969 it was Bob Hope; John Wayne in 1973; Frank Sinatra in 1980; Kermit the Frog in 1996 and Dr. Jane Goodall in 2013.
From its origins in 1890 when Parade floats consisted of private carriages decorated with a few flowers, the floats showcased in the Rose Parade have become extremely elaborate with many taking hundreds of hours to construct. Figure #5 portraying “Tulip Day in Holland” was a Grand Prize winner representing the Van de Kamp’s bakeries of Southern California and Seattle, Washington. The float shown in Figure #6 shows a float designed for the Odd Fellows and Rebekah’s Organization. This float took third place in the annual Rose Parade competition.
If you are looking to add some beautiful and historic postcards to your collection, consider the postcards of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses! Until next time, stay safe and enjoy good hunting!
