Cal Poly Rose Float ready to go for New Year’s Day with added John Madden tribute
Cal Poly’s Rose Float is back and ready to roll Saturday as part of the 133rd Rose Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena.
The event, canceled last year due to COVID-19 impacts, will take place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday with broadcasts expected on multiple cable network channels, including ABC, NBC, and KTLA. Check local broadcast listings for more information.
Cal Poly’s float, themed “Stargrazers,” will appear toward the end of the parade, as it’s the 82nd of the 85 floats in the order of the march.
The students added a tribute to the late John Madden as part of their “Stargrazers theme.”
“The students added a tribute to John Madden in the way of a decorative football located on the front right corner of the float that says “Madden Ride High,” said Josh D’Acquisto, Cal Poly’s Rose Float coordinator. “It’s just a subtle tribute that came about this week.”
Madden, a Cal Poly graduate and former football player on the Mustangs’ 1957 and 1958 teams, died Tuesday at the age of 85.
The tribute to the NFL and Cal Poly Hall of Famer is formed of flaxseed and onion-seed, D’Acquisto said.
“Stargrazers,” depicts a scene from the classic Mother Goose nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle,” according to a Cal Poly news release.
“In Cal Poly’s take on the six-line rhyme, three cows, along with their colleagues — the cat, a little dog, the dish and the spoon — are seen working to achieve the celebrated moo-n jump,” the release said.
As part of the tradition, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo collaborated with Cal Poly Pomona to design and decorate the float with flowers and other natural materials.
“The Stargrazers float will feature larger-than-life nursery rhyme characters, some of which will move, and all of which will be decorated head to hoof in natural material,” a news release said.
This year marks the 73rd time the Cal Poly float has rolled down Colorado Boulevard.
The float is two years in the making, due to the 2021 cancellation, and some of the students who worked on the float design last year have returned to help decorate this week, D’Acquisto said.
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