Students from Cal Poly are busy at work putting the finishing touches on this year's Rose Parade Float. For several decades, the San Luis Obispo and Pomona campuses have joined forces, each building one half of the same float and then bringing them together with award-winning results.
This year's Cal Poly entry includes solar power to assist with some of the float's many moving parts, the first time solar has been used this extensively by any parade entry.
Cal Poly student Amanda Lee is from the San Luis Obispo team. She says a lot of the float's organic material, including flowers, is grown by students at the university. What they can't grow themselves, they source as locally as possible.
"We actually work with the California Cut Flower Commission, which deals with certifying floats that are, what we call, 'California Grown,'" said Lee regarding their float, which has 85 percent of its floral sourced from within the state. "We have been working with a lot of California growers, including some in Nipomo and other ones across the state."
Lee says even though this is her fourth year working on the float, she still gets very anxious as the days tick closer to the big event.
Judging takes place on Wednesday, December 31, and the parade itself is on New Year's Day.