Designing the Floats
The Tournament of Roses traditionally brings out the good nature in viewers worldwide –– and the team of float designers at Phoenix Decorating Co., using sketches, renderings and lots of imagination, are committed to assuring that’s the case with the 2007 Rose Parade.The parade theme, “Our Good Nature” provides varied inspiration for interpretation.
Webster’s Dictionary would seem to indicate agreement with Holman and Lofthouse – and most specifically with the designers.
Nature, it defines:n. things in time and space; the entire physical universe.
n. natural scenery, including the plants and animals that are part of it.
n. inborn character, inherent tendencies; goodness of character.
The design team at Phoenix Decorating Co. is creating more floats for the 2007 parade than any other commercial builder. And they have elected to apply President Holman’s – and the dictionary’s – flexible reading of “nature.”
Among her many interpretations for 2007 floats Michelle Lofthouse offers “Mother Nature,” for Farmer’s Insurance Group; “The Red Carpet of Roses,” giving blossom to Bayer Advanced Garden’s 7th float; “Discovering the Deep,” which may be recalling Trader Joe’s 2006 adventure ship entry which, as the entire parade, found itself innundated by torrential rains, and a very special examination of nature – good and otherwise – presented by American Honda.
Designer Art Aguirre’s vision spans from the Lion’s Club’s “Sight First,” which sees the beauty in the service club’s dedication to eradicating preventable blindness, to the pleasure of “A Day on the Bay” in the City of Long Beach, and the “Home Sweet Home” offered by the many Ronald McDonald House Foundation facilities serving the needs of relatives supporting medically afflicted children.
Dave Pittman provides an interpretive depiction of the gift provided by organ donors, each of whom is “Giving From the Heart” as they or their families offer the ultimate – the gift of enhanced life, shown on the Donate Life float in their 4th appearance in the Rose Parade. Dave also explores “A Unique History,” as offered by the State of Oklahoma, which was more than OK when it became the 46th star on the American flag, and celebrates its 100th anniversary year starting with its appearance in Pasadena on Jan. 1 2007. Enjoy your own good nature – and the parade.
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