As you will have already noticed on this website and maybe you even received the AOBA flyer there is a task force of AOBA volunteers working hard to raise money for a float in the 2009 Rose Parade, the float would be dedicated to Alpacas.
Sometime during the year this group will be launching their own website called www.alpacaroseparade.com in fact as my AOBA flyer was late the web site may even be up and running as I type, so check it out sometime.



The Tournament of Roses Parade was established, and first held, on January 1, 1890, in Pasadena, California, about 30 minutes northeast of Downtown Los Angeles.

Starting January 1, 1923, it is traditionally followed by the Tournament's other event, the Rose Bowl college football game. The parade is broadcast on multiple television networks, watched by upwards of one million spectators on the parade route, and seen by millions more on television.

The parade is televised on ABC (as the official network of the tournament and the Rose Bowl game itself), but coverage is also available on NBC, Univision (in Spanish), HGTV, The Travel Channel, and KTLA (the latter three tout commercial-free coverage, although KTLA repeats the parade throughout the day with commercials).

Typically 48 to 72 hours prior to parade day interested folks can view several of the floats being decorated with flowers, in the various 'float barns' that dot the Arroyo Seco - Rose Bowl area in West Pasadena, not far from the starting off point of the parade. Most of the float are built by volunteers but the designs come from a few well established float design companies.
After the parade, all the floats are 'parked' in a large open area known as Victory Park, and are on display for at least two days after parade day. You can buy a ticket to go look at the floats. Obviously, none of the float riders and B list celebrities who rode the floats on parade day will be there for two days of viewing.

Each year there is a different theme for the Rose Parade and here is a short list of the themes since 2000:

2000 - Celebration 2000: Visions of the Future
2001 - Fabric of America
2002 - Good Times
2003 - Children's Dreams, Wishes and Imagination
2004 - Music Music Music
2005 - Celebrate Family
2006 - It's Magical
2007 - Our Good Nature
2008 - Passport to the World's Celebrations
2009 - Hats Off to Entertainment

So the theme we will be working towards in 2009 is "Hats Off to Entertainment" not quite sure how the design experts will achieve that using roses and some association with alpacas...but I guess that is the magic of the float designers.