Float Construction

Needless to say, observing the floats as all the flowers are placed on them was fascinating. Particularly when one considers our photographs show floats with only 24 hours before the parade begins!

Note all the scaffolding (and only 24 hours left!) In this warehouse, we observed the preparations from above.

It is hard to imagine all the handwork that goes into the floats. Here a worker is placing individual blue berries.

Every visible spot on a float must be covered by flowers and/or natural plant material

The detail is awesome

Hand gluing individual kiwi slices

Just one of the areas where flowers are held before being placed on a float

Teamwork!

The buildings housing the floats were huge

A volunteer carefully treads among flowers already in place

Notice all the different products in this “line-up”

Pampas grass was used on this eagle’s head

A soldier’s face on a float honoring 2nd generation Japanese who served in the US military during WW II. Notice how the face was created using various shades. As you will see later, from a distance this face looks like a photograph.

This plaque shows the various non-flower materials used in the floats being constructed

Gluing on one flower pedal at a time!

We were able to view the floats in this pavilion from ground level.

The level of detail is hard to imagine

All short lasting flowers must be kept in individual vials prior to being placed on the float. This means millions of vials are required!

Here we see grapefruit skins used to create the beak of this bird

This is the Cal Poly University float.

It is the only float in the parade constructed exclusively by students, using flowers and plants grown by the students.

The combination of colors is awesome

As mentioned earlier, every visible surface of a float must be covered. Here a worker is painstakingly covering a surface behind an almost hidden area. Later in the parade you will be able to see this fabulous float.