This weekend will bring us all into 2017, which also means Pasadena, CA will be having its annual Rose Parade on January 2nd. This New Year's Day parade began in 1889 to showcase the floral bounty of California; today, 120 years later, it continues to do just that.
I first experienced the Rose Parade when I was 7 years old; my parents took my brother and me on a road trip to Southern California, where we camped out on the sidewalk with hundreds of other people celebrating New Year's Eve. The next day we watched the parade, and I was fascinated with the elaborate, moving floats, completely covered in flowers. To me, it was pure magic.
In the parade's earliest days, the flowers came from the flower fields nearby. The elaborately decorated parade carriages showed off the great variety of everything California soil and farmers could grow, even during the dead of winter. Today, the celebration of California-grown flora continues with the annual Rose Parade, and also through the work of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), which is dedicated to sharing and preserving the agricultural beauty of California. Each year, the CCFC honors and certifies floats that keep the tradition of using local flowers alive.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk
