Cal Poly Rose Parade Float a Double Winner in 2010

Joint effort by Cal Poly campuses in San Luis Obispo and Pomona captures Bob Hope Humor Trophy
and second straight KTLA Viewer’s Choice Award

Slideshow: Building the 2010 Float
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SAN LUIS OBISPO – “Jungle Cuts,” the float built by students and volunteers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the university’s sister campus in Pomona captured two awards at the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade, held Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Parade judges honored the float with the Bob Hope Humor Trophy the day of the parade. And on Jan. 2, the Tournament of Roses and KTLA TV in Los Angeles announced that the Cal Poly creation had once again captured the annual Viewers Choice Award.

In online voting New Year's Day, the Cal Poly Float earned 20,788 votes, followed closely by RFD-TV's float at 20,387 votes. The support of Cal Poly alumni and friends helped keep the student-designed and made university float ahead of the TV network's float throughout most of the day. By the 5:30 p.m. online voting deadline, “Jungle Cuts” had received 20,788 votes out of a total of 50,535 submitted.

The Cal Poly team received the viewer’s choice plaque Saturday, with the presentation broadcast by the KTLA evening news.

The Cal Poly campuses won the inaugural viewer’s choice trophy in 2009 with their float “Seaside Amusement,” which received 3,219 votes of the 10,618 submitted.

The concept for the 2010 Cal Poly Rose Float, “Jungle Cuts,” took a classic barbershop scene and set it in the jungle. The design by Andrea Swanson and Rick Stover of Thomas Baak and Associates, LLP played off the 2010 Tournament of Roses parade theme, “A Cut Above the Rest.”

The float scene featured a lion getting a perm, a giraffe getting a beehive, and a zebra styling it out with a slick mohawk. The animation incorporated into the float included a toucan flying around a tree, monkeys dangling from trees, a giraffe climbing a tree, and an actual working waterfall. The float used about 15,000 roses and 5,000 Gerber daisies.

“We’d like to congratulate Cal Poly universities for the wonderful float that not only lived up to this year's parade theme but was also, once again, declared the fan favorite,” said Laura Farber, chairwoman of the Tournament of Roses Judging Committee. “We’d also like to thank all the fans who participated in the award with their votes.”

Teams from the San Luis Obispo and Pomona campuses have worked together to build a parade float every year since 1949. In addition to tradition, the Rose Float teams learn real-world engineering and manufacturing engineering while assembling the float. Students ask parents, alumni and the community for help adding flowers and finishing touches every year during “Deco Week” in Pasadena.

For more information about the Cal Poly Rose Float, visit www.asi.calpoly.edu/rose_float. For more on the Tournament of Roses Parade, log on to www.tournamentofroses.com.

For details on the Viewers' Choice award, see:
http://www.ktla.com/entertainment/roseparade/viewerschoice/

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