By Christian Park-Gastelum, Oct. 8 2024
Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Rose Float team unveiled “Nessie’s Lakeside Laughs” as their float concept Sept. 18 for the 2025 Rose Parade.
The concept includes green belly-pink spined Nessie emerging from a pool as penguins slide down her back. “California State University” inscribed on the boat keeps a dog afloat, while a second dog is playing on shore over the “Cal Poly Universities” name.
Tournament of Roses President Ed Morales announced the theme “Best Day Ever!” Jan. 18, signifying Cal Poly’s Rose Float team to open a concept contest late Jan., gathering ideas from students, faculty, alumni or non-Cal Poly affiliates.
The concept contest entries had no official format to follow, giving freedom of expression to the contestants avoiding any limitations on interpretation. Entries included a singular sentence, a phrase, a full description or a drawing. According to CPP’s Rose Float president and mechanical engineering student Brooke Handschin, the team receives hundreds of entries unanimously from participants.
“We go through all of those submissions and go through a voting process because we start with so many,” said Handschin. “We have a couple rounds of voting to narrow them down, and once we get down to a top 10, top 20, we start discussing them and talk about how those concepts fit into the theme and what we can do with it.”
As stated by Morales, the theme “Best Day Ever” is about family, friends, and community to celebrate life’s best moments. It calls for celebration and gratitude for the times that bring smiles into our lives and moments that fill us with joy.
Sixty leaders between both schools met at Cal Poly SLO for a two-day process to vote on and discuss the three to five best concepts mid Feb.
The teams present their first-choice option to the Tournament of Roses for approval. If the theme is rejected, the Rose Float team eill present alternatives.
After approval, the entire Cal Poly Rose Float team plans the assembly as well as calculates the scales of the float to ensure the counterpart school is building cohesively.
CPP owns and works on the front half of the float’s base, whereas the back half is kept by Cal Poly SLO until the two parts are ready to be connected in late December. After coordinating plans March through April, they begin construction on their respective campuses late July, while staying communicative with their counterparts.
Matthew Rodarte, CPP Rose Float’s vice president and an electrical engineering student, noted countless of meetings with Cal Poly SLO’s leadership team to ensure the job gets done.
“It’s a lot, but it also ends up working out because you’re sort of forging this bond with someone 180 miles away,” said Rodarte. “When they come down, we like to stress that if they’re wearing coveralls, they’re a member of leadership. Pomona or San Luis Obispo, that divide does not exist. We’re the same group, just working on different stuff. Doing all that communication to get the groundwork for when we have our move down ceremony and connect the two halves, we’ll be ready to think on our feet and talk to each other in person.”
Cal Poly SLO’s leadership team will visit CPP mid-October, working with their counterpart teammates to help build parts of the float the Pomona chapter has.
By the end of finals week for both schools, Cal Poly SLO will drive down their half of the float to CPP to unify the two halves. The float is then driven to Pasadena, commencing a weeklong process of decorating the float for judgment.
Tournament of Roses judges critique the floats on design, floral presentation and entertainment value Dec. 31. Participants are then notified of results early New Years morning before the parade begins.
The Cal Poly Rose Float team has accumulated 63 awards since 1949, winning the Crown City Innovator award Jan. 1.
Constructing the float is a yearlong process, with 13 months for leadership roles.
“We pick the executives and the president before Jan. 1,” said Amelia Atwell, design chair and an architecture student. “For me, the other chairs and the presidents, we started in December. That’s why we call it a 13-month process, they overlap a little bit and it’s intense, but that’s why we love it. We’re together so much in this program, and that’s why we come back.”
CPP’s team leaders begin physical assembly of the float in late July, working only on weekends to prioritize school during the week. The CPP team welcomes new members willing to help with the float or those curious about the club in September.
In their respective campuses, CPP and Cal Poly SLO are consistently testing the floats parts and functions to ensure they are operating smoothly. Cal Poly SLO will visit CPP mid Oct. To help with parts the Pomona team has, while gauging the work done on the front part of the float.
CPP continues to build their mechanical parts and finish touches on their half of the float to be ready for unification in late Dec.
“Nessie’s Lakeside Laughs” will parade down Colorado Boulevard at 8 a.m. Jan. 1.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Atwell. “It’s amazing. At the parade we sit right by the TV corner, and just seeing the parade around the corner, we’ll all be so excited. Then the parade will come around the corner and we’re all bawling, just crying, as we’ve been doing this literally all year. It’s a 13-month process. It’s awesome, but it’s also very emotional.”
Feature Image Courtesy of Cal Poly Universities Rose Float Team