Tournament of Roses Parade

Every year thousands of people make their way to Pasadena early on the first morning of the new year. Many of them have even spent their New Year‘s Eve out on the streets and settled in to camp over night just to get the perfect spot to watch a grandiose flower spectacle in the morning of New Year’s Day: The Rose Parade in Pasadena – A timeless New Year’s tradition in California.

The Tournament of Roses can look back on a long history. The first one in 1890 drew an audience of 2,000 people. In 2010 about 500,000 out-of-town guests arrived to see the parade. About 51.9 million people in the U.S. watched the 2010 Rose Parade on TV and it is also broadcast worldwide.

This year it is estimated that 700,000 people will be present along the parade route on January 1 for the yearly festivities.

Interested in watching the parade in person? Here is some information to help you plan for it :

The parade will start January 1st, 2011 at 8am and last 2 hours.
Starting Point is, Green Street & Orange Grove in Pasadena. It then continues North on Orange Grove then East on Colorado Blvd. to Sierra Madre Blvd., then north on Sierra Madre Blvd. to Paloma Street – a total of 5 1/2 miles
Of all the floats , 25 entries will receive awards. Viewers can vote for the Viewer’s Choice Award by voting online or for the first time they will be able to vote by texting the keyword FLOAT followed by the Float entry number to 50649
More information on the event can be found on the official website: http://www.tournamentofroses.com/pasadena-tournament-of-roses

Happy New Year to all !