Newport is looking for a few good riders, wavers

Don’t have the cash for a seat? The city is seeking volunteer workers, too. Anyone with $500 and a parade-worthy wave can try for a seat on Newport Beach’s Rose Parade float starting today. Actually, the wave is optional, but donors who give $500 to the city’s centennial will be entered in an opportunity drawing for one float ride. Another seat on the float will be auctioned off on eBay.

Donations to enter the drawing will be accepted today through 2 p.m. Nov. 10, and the eBay auction will open Nov. 1 and close at 5 p.m. Nov. 10. The city’s mayor also will ride on the float, and the remainder of the float’s eight or nine seats -- one of which has already been purchased -- will go to people who donate at least $25,000 to the centennial celebration.

“We hope there will be a lot of interest” in the online auction, Newport Beach City Councilman Don Webb said. “It’s a nationwide auction, and this is a unique item, and to the best of our knowledge, nobody has ever done this.”

Someone from outside Newport Beach could win the float seat, but Webb said that’s fine -- he’d consider that person a representative of the many tourists who visit the city each year.

Prospective float riders must be at least 12, must follow all Rose Parade rules and must provide their own transportation to the parade, which will be Jan. 2 in Pasadena.

For information on the drawing, call (949) 644-3230 or visit the centennial website at www.newportbeach100.com. The eBay auction information can be found on eBay.com under tickets/experiences or by looking up the city’s listing, NewportGold.

For those who don’t have the cash for a seat but can donate their time, the city is seeking volunteers Nov. 12 to go to the Duarte workshop of Fiesta Parade Floats, where people will cut out and assemble dried materials to go on the float. Volunteers also will be needed Dec. 26 through Jan. 1 to decorate the float with fresh flowers, and the city also is selling the right to put a name of the buyer’s choice on a vial that will hold a live flower on the float.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.