Newport Beach plans Rose Parade float for first time since 2006

The Rose Parade on New Year’s Day will feature a familiar name for coastal Orange County — the city of Newport Beach, which will be participating in the parade for the first time since 2006, when the city was celebrating its centennial.

Gary Sherwin, chief executive officer and president of Newport Beach & Co., the city’s nonprofit marketing agency, confirmed participation earlier this summer and said the proposal for the float entry was recently approved by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn.

The Newport Beach float, which links together five different small floats, draws inspiration from the city’s Christmas Boat Parade. Sherwin said the intent was to tell the story of the city, and organizers could think of no better way to do that than through using the floral display to depict one of the biggest events staged annually in Newport Harbor.

The cost of the float is expected to be in the low six figures, according to Sherwin. For operating purposes, Newport Beach & Co. receives about 18% of the bed taxes collected via tourism and is estimating it will receive about $6.7 million in funding in 2024.

“The Tournament of Roses has always had a long history with the city of Newport Beach and there was a partnership where ... for a number of years, we took the royal court down there for a weekend,” said Steve Perry, float entries chair for the Tournament of Roses, in a recent interview. “It seemed like a good fit when I saw Visit Newport Beach trying to do an ad for people to visit. We have other sponsors, and it was ‘Let’s see if Newport Beach would be interested in putting a float in the parade to show all the great wonderful things that are available.’

A float for Newport Harbor that participated in the Rose Parade in 1932.

(Courtesy of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses)

“What better way to reach more people than be in the Rose Parade with our international viewing over 40 million people?” he continued. “Local, national — well if it’s going to [be seen in] London, and Tokyo, why not come to Pasadena?”

Newport Beach will be one of a number of California city floats featured during the parade New Year’s Day. That list, as of earlier this summer, includes La Cañada Flintridge, Sierra Madre, Downey, South Pasadena, Burbank, Alhambra and Torrance. Florida’s Fort Lauderdale will also be participating.

Sherwin said officials from the Tournament reached out in March to gauge Newport Beach interest.

“I think when we were in the parade in 2006, we saw it as a one-time-only deal because it was part of the centennial celebration, but not as a long-term relationship,” Sherwin said.

After meeting with Perry, the organization decided to reestablish its relationship with the Tournament of Roses, he said.

Newport Beach’s float will be built by Phoenix Decorating Co. in Irwindale. Sherwin said the company is capable of “turn-keying” the float and having it ready to go, but that Newport Beach & Co. is considering having a community day in late December when residents can drop by the builder’s warehouse to help put flowers on the float.

The most recent float for Newport Beach was featured in the 2006 Rose Parade.

(Courtesy of Pasadena Tournament of Roses)

“Whether or not we have two people or 50, the float will be done, and Phoenix Decorating will make sure it gets done,” Sherwin said.

By that point, the float should be mostly completed. Much of the welding for the “super structures” is expected to be begin in August and completed by October. The seeds, vegetation and floral elements are added just before the Jan. 1 date of the parade to keep them fresh.

Sherwin notes participation is not a city project but one the tourism marketing agency is undertaking on behalf of Newport Beach.

“People love the Rose Parade. The reason the Rose Parade was created was to sell homes and promote tourism. It was started by the Valley Hunt Club way back when, and they wanted to have a parade on New Year’s Day to show how glorious the weather and lifestyle was in Southern California, so people would move, start businesses or visit,” said Sherwin. “While people were freezing on the East Coast, they’d look at all these floats and the weather in California.

“This was over 100 years ago, and it was a very different world back then, but ... it’s a chance to affiliate with something that helps promote our lifestyle and our weather and who we are and be a part of an international phenomenon — when we do marketing for the Christmas Boat Parade, I look to the Rose Parade a lot for inspiration. To be officially in it is especially meaningful, I think.”