Sights and sounds of Rose Parade's Floatfest in Pasadena

Imagine you're inside a Rose Parade float operating it. The view is very different, just like the view from the curb of at Floatfest, where floats are parked in Pasadena for people to get an up close and personal look. 

At Floatfest, some told us how beautiful the thought the 39 floats here were. 

Here are some of the things we heard from visitors:

"The color is very vibrant."

"You get to see all the different flowers."

"Look at that pumpkins, oranges, peppers… it’s incredible."

"Everything is just meticulous, and it’s better up close than it is even when you’re viewing it from the parade."

The City of Burbank float was the winner of the Queen’s Award. 

"There are 35 different dry materials on the stripes here and 15 or 16 fresh materials," said Jon Reeves with the float-making team.

That kayak is made primarily of yellow straw flowers. The goat is made of mostly buffalo grass.

The blue in the globe is called status. The green is split peas and the yellow is – you guessed it – yellow split peas.

There are student ambassadors on hand to answer your questions out here. We wanted to know what resources were used to make some big yellow flowers on a float.

"Those are flowers that are crushed up with a hammer or like your hand and then they use natural glue to glue them onto the flowers," said student ambassador Elizabeth Mazaros.

Tickets for Floatfest are $20. Kids under 5 are free. Hours tomorrow are:

• Jan. 3, 2023: 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. (reserved for seniors & disabled visitors)
• Jan. 3, 2023: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (ticket sales end at 3 p.m., last entry at 4 p.m.)