Jan. 02, 2004
Contact: Amie Hammond
(805) 756-1113
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cal Polys’ Rose Float Entry Won the Founder's Trophy in
Tournament of Roses Parade
SAN LUIS OBISPO – The two Cal Polys’ entry in the 2004 Tournament
of Roses Parade won the Founder's Trophy for the best volunteer-built
float.
The universities’ float, titled “Bob’s Barnacle Band,” fit right into the 115th Rose parade theme “Music, Music, Music.” This marked the schools’ 56th consecutive entry -- unique because it is the only Rose Float built entirely by students. The students have won awards 44 times.
The float had an enviable ninth-place position in the Jan. 1 lineup of floats, assuring millions of viewers worldwide saw the work done by students from the San Luis Obispo and Pomona campuses.
The approximately two-hour parade began at 8 a.m. along Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard. The Rose Parade was broadcast locally on ABC, NBC and CBS, and internationally to 28 countries. The parade featured marching bands from throughout the nation, floral floats and high-stepping equestrian units.
This year Cal Poly’s float depicted a sea-creature band playing
on a sunken pirate ship
led by a skeleton conductor.
“The pirate ship -- once a mighty vessel -- is now broken in two,
providing the perfect stage for a band of eccentric creatures and their
instruments,” said Rachelle Kam, Rose Float committee chair at the
San Luis Obispo campus. “As the starfish singer makes its entrance
from a large clamshell, the band’s audience of fish and crustaceans
frolic and
dance among treasure chests, barrels, coral and seaweed.”
“Bob’s Barnacle Band” stands 30-feet high, 18-feet wide and 55-feet long and is hydraulically powered. The students used an estimated 17,000 roses, 550 bunches of mums and 300 bunches of carnations, in addition to other floral decorations such as lilies, liatris, Gerber daisies, gladiolas, iris, solidago, asters, freesia, sweat peas and baby’s breath.
More than 1,000 volunteer decorators come together every year between Christmas and New Year’s to decorate the Cal Poly float. The volunteers include Cal Poly students, faculty and staff members of the universities, family, alumni and friends,
The two Cal Poly university campuses, located approximately 225 miles
apart,
coordinate a year-round effort to complete the float for each year’s
parade. Throughout the 12-month period, committees from each campus work
on the design and construction of their respective portion to ensure the
float is built to specification.
Usually during the Thanksgiving break, the San Luis Obispo portion of the float is transported to the Pomona campus, where the two frames are united. Approximately the third week of December, the float is transported more than 30 miles from the Pomona campus to its assigned decorating site in Pasadena.
For more information about the Cal Poly Rose Float program, go to http://asi.calpoly.edu/rosefloat/ or call Amie Hammond, Associated Students Inc. program coordinator at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, at 756-1113.
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(NOTE TO EDITORS: A color rendering of “Bob’s Barnacle Band”
is available on the Web at
http://www.asi.calpoly.edu/rosefloat/images/renderings/2004_bobs_barnacle_band.jpg.)