Rose Parade 2025: 136th edition draws largest crowds since pre-pandemic
Colorful floats, energetic bands and majestic trotting horses and huge crowds rang in the new year Wednesday, Jan. 1, during the 136th Rose Parade in Pasadena.
Hundreds of thousands who had camped out and gathered along the 5.5-mile parade route awaited the festivities, which kicked off at 8:06 a.m., with the theme this year of “Best Day Ever!” and a thundering B-2 Stealth Bomber flyover.
Crowds for Wednesday’s parade surpassed any since before the pandemic, said Pasadena spokesperson Lisa Derderian.
Apart from a brief float breakdown and a minor protest, the parade went ahead without any major incidents.
But the festivities were tempered by national tragedy.
Just hours before the parade, at least15 people died and 30 others were injured in New Orleans when a vehicle rammed into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers in the French Quarter along Bourbon Street.
The FBI confirmed the early-morning tragedy was being investigated as an act of terrorism.
It sent shockwaves throughout the nation, including in Pasadena, where Louisiana Lt. Gov. Bill Nungesser was in town accompanying his state’s float in the Rose Parade.
Nungesser said the mood among his state’s visitors to the parade was somber upon the news.
“It really is a different mood here than it should be,” he said. “It’s horrible that it takes a tragedy like this with more barricades, especially with the Super Bowl coming, it’s been talked about before. When you have a crazy person that wants to cause havoc, its very hard to stop them.
With Rose Parade crowds waking up directly engaged in the parade’s festivities, some in the crowd had no idea about what had taken place, or were just learning about it.
In a statement early Wednesday, the city of Pasadena and Tournament of Roses extended their condolences to New Orleans and assured visitors to Pasadena of a safe parade.
“The Parade is a top level Federal event and we have the ability to call in additional resources if the need exists,” the statement read. “We have a hard shut down of vehicles along the entire Parade route in addition to very robust vehicle barriers at intersections. over 1,000 law enforcement personnel are working the Parade and Game.”
Last year, a woman rammed her car into a barricade at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Chester Avenue.
‘The highlight of my year’
Aloe Blacc and Kiesza kicked off the parade with the opening spectacular punctuated by a B-2 bomber flyover. Shortly after, the floats, bands and equestrian groups began their march.
Tennis legend and social justice icon Billie Jean King, the parade’s grand marshal, sported a rose red blazer as she waved to the crowd from a Rolls-Royce Phantom III.
King said growing up in Long Beach her family made a point of watching the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game every year.
“It was something we would look forward to every Jan. 1,” King said.
Along with the float builders, band members and performers, unsung heroes like the pooper scooper brigade, which followed equestrian groups to keep the route clean, help the parade run smoothly each year. Among their ranks for the last 34 years has been Peggy O’Leary.
“I love it,” the South Pasadena resident said. “It’s the highlight of my year.”
The white jumpsuit-clad scoopers got some of the biggest cheers from paradegoers.
For those waiting for the parade to start vendors provided visitors with warm treats. One such vendor, Mario Rodriguez, of Los Angeles, set up shop on the corner of Arroyo Parkway and Colorado Boulevard to sell champurrado, pan dulce, cafe olla and tamales.
His sing-song call of “coffee, cinnamon, sugar and a happy New Year!” attracted customers to purchase $4 coffees as the sky brightened over Pasadena. Rodriguez said business was good.
“I appreciate everything, the bands, the music, the families,” Rodriguez said.
Eliza Winter of Redlands High School sold souvenir programs for $15 each. It’s an annual gig for choir students at the school to raise money for choir trips.
“It’s been good,” she said of business. “You really have to hustle and speak up.”
People found a bird’s eye view of the parade from a building on the corner of De Lacey Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
‘It’s very welcoming’
Fans of Ohio State University and University of Oregon prepared for the Rose Bowl game by repping their colors along the parade route.
Gisselle Garay is a University of Oregon grad and brought her family to town to cheer on their Ducks.
“It’s a culture that kind of grows on you,” Garay said. “It’s very welcoming. We recognize each other.”
Several floats captured the attention of crowds along the parade route. Some for their animation and others for their creative design.
“It was beautiful, the peacock float was really pretty,” said Lauren Ball from Texas, referring to the City of Hope float. Ball was wearing a headband with stars that said ‘Happy New Year’ with a blanket in hand as she walked down Colorado Boulevard at the end of the parade.
Live flames shooting from a volcano on the City of Burbank’s “Having A-Lava Fun” garnered hoots and cheers from the onlooking crowd.
“I would definitely recommend people attend in person. We did the float viewing before the parade too and recommend doing that as well. We walked down Orange Grove this morning and saw them again. That was really neat.”
The one float hiccup came for the city of Torrance float which needed to be towed to complete the route.
A group of Free Palestine advocates briefly marched in a straight line carrying a large banner.
Parade watchers initially thought it was parade entry. Last year, protesters briefly blocked the parade before peacefully departing.
Police briefly detained and cited the protesters for interrupting the parade and marching in front of a band for several blocks, Derderian said after the parade. However, the approximately dozen protesters were released shortly afterward. But the group claimed that four members remained in custody late Wednesday afternoon.
‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’
Aside from pooper scoopers, several marching bands received the largest ovations. In its debut at the Rose Parade Jackson State University’s Marching Band, “Sonic Boom of the South,” paused along the route to perform for the crowd.
“It was a great experience for us and our students, who were really excited about the best day ever, which is today,” Denise Gregory, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Jackson State University, said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of our students.”
Another highlight was the 605 All-Star Marching Band, the largest in this year’s edition, with more than 500 members representing three school districts, seven cities and eight high schools along the 605 freeway.
Kyoto Tachibana High School Green Band had each line of the band dash through the turn from Orange Grove Boulevard onto Colorado Boulevard in a sweeping motion.
At the end of the parade route near Sierra Madre Boulevard and Villa Street, crowds began gathering hours before any float or band would make an appearance.
Several parents of band members from the Los Angeles All-City Marching Band set up shop near the end making the band’s arrival the main event of those gathered at the conclusion.
For everyone else the end of the parade offered a chance to inspect the floats up close and take pictures with them. Parade participants chatted with the crowd until it was their turn to keep moving.
The hold up for some of the larger floats was fitting them under the 210 freeway.
Band members with the Homestead High School Mighty Mustang Marching Band and Color Guard from Cupertino, California, yelled “Best day ever,” to each other while they waited.
Those who missed the parade live or couldn’t catch the T.V. broadcast have a chance to get an up close look at the floats for the next two days. The floats will be parked at the corner of Sierra Madre Avenue and Washington Boulevard until Friday, Jan. 3.
Staff writers Teresa Liu, Anissa Rivera, Steve Scauzillo, Mercedes Cannon-Tran, Christina Merino, Tyler Evains and Lisa Jacobs contributed to this report.