This year on New Year’s Day, Pasadena celebrated its “Best Day Ever,” as optimism took its traditional 5-mile tour down Colorado Boulevard for the 136th Rose Parade.
Only just one week later, thousands experienced their worst day ever, when tragedy intervened forever searing Eaton fire and Palisades fire into our collective consciousness.
But as the Tournament of Roses does annually without fail, there’s little time to spare before officials announce the following year’s theme.
Newly installed Tournament of Roses president Mark Leavens announced “The Magic in Teamwork” as the theme for the 2026 Rose Parade on Feb. 4 at Tournament House, unveiling a colorful poster of patches representing public safety agencies and nonprofit partners.
The brief announcement took place at 8 p.m. sharp just inside the grand front steps of Tournament House in Pasadena. As Tournament members milled around the foyer after attending an officer installation dinner, Leavens took his place at a plexiglass podium in front of a red rose backdrop.
“The Tournament stands ready to share in the teamwork to help our community to recover and rebuild,” Leavens said.
Call it kismet, but Leavens said in an interview before the announcement, he had already conjured the team theme almost a year before the wildfires destroyed entire neighborhoods.
“The greatest achievements we have in life are not done alone,” Leavens said. “I wanted a theme that would recognize those bonds that form when you’re working in a group.’
“The Magic in Teamwork” theme celebrates those collaborations, added Leavens. He said when people unite – such as during the rebuilding and recovery in Altadena and Palisades – great things can happen.
The theme is a tribute to the strength, resilience and connection that arise when a community comes together, proving that the magic in teamwork is not just an idea but a reality we live every day, said a press release.
Leavens had solidified the saying and the artwork in December, he said. Then after the Jan. 7 disasters, with a Jan. 16 theme announcement looming, people started asking if he would pivot and change it because of the wildfires.
It was a sports headline in a local paper — Mirjam Swanson’s column in the Pasadena Star News — that made him resolute: “It’s time for teamwork,” read the headline in the print version above a story about how athletes were responding to the tragedies.
And that’s what did it for him, Leavens said.
“The theme would resonate with what was going on in the community,” Leavens said. “After the fires, it just felt appropriate.”
The teamwork theme marries tiny triumphs and simple struggles with the more massive undertaking of rebuilding whole towns and recovering a sense of stability, according to a Tournament of Roses press release.
“We’ve witnessed firsthand the power of teamwork—neighbors helping neighbors, first responders working tirelessly and volunteers stepping up in extraordinary ways,” according to the statement.
The Rose Parade, known worldwide as America’s favorite New Year’s Day tradition, has always represented buoyant beginnings and sunny outlooks. With bright floral displays, dynamic marching bands and pressing equestrian units filing by, it’s easy to smile, to nod and to have hope for the next calendar year.
As Leavens puts it, with the Rose Parade each year, “Pasadena punches way above its weight when it comes to putting on a world-class event.” A relatively small contingent puts on a show like no other, he said.
And in line with the Tournament’s mission statement, Leavens said, “Each Jan. 1, the world looks to Pasadena to celebrate the joy and the hope of new beginnings.”
And that’s a lot of what the communities of Altadena and Palisades are going to go through, he said, adding that in 2026 it will be the beginning of a likely decade-long process.
Historically, themes for Rose Parades have a general good cheer about them, if not often sanguine.
In 1918 and 1919 – years impacted by World War I – the first recorded Rose Parade themes were Patriotism and Victory, respectively.
There were no parade themes again until 1927, when a decade’s worth of themes sprouted up in earnest. And they were all to do with celebrating floral artistry. Songs in Flowers (1927) Poems in Flowers (1929), History in Flowers (1936).
With the advent of World War II, themes turned patriotic again: America in Flowers (1941), We’re in to Win (1943) and, finally, Victory, Unity and Peace (1946).
The Tournament returned to flower themes again for many parades in the 1950s and 60s, 70s and 80s: Famous Books in Flowers (1954), Adventures in Flowers (1959), Headlines in Flowers (1965), with a brief callback to patriotism a year before the U.S. became fully engaged in the Vietnam War: Symbols of Freedom (1964).
From the 1980s to present day, themes run the gamut, from sports to jubilation (Rejoice! In 1983) to children (Kids’ Laughter and Dreams in 1996) to exploration (Oh, the Places You’ll Go in 2013).
As for parade theme announcements, this is the third consecutive year Tournament of Roses has organized a public unveiling.
Before the event, Leavens said it was important to keep it somber and respectful as many community members are still hurting.
The Tournament itself has not been immune from loss, said Leavens.
Out of 935 volunteers and 35 staffers, he said, about 50 have come forward with “some sort of catastrophic loss.”
As such, the Tournament and its Foundation have established a $200,000 Emergency Relief Fund for direct financial support for volunteers and staffers who were impacted, according to a Jan. 27 press release.
The Tournament also announced last week it is partnering with the Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions Foundation to allocate $1 million in gift cards to help Eaton fire victims.
Up next for Leavens will be his selection of the Rose Parade’s grand marshal. That decision, along with the theme, are two key responsibilities of the Tournament president.
Will he pick a team of first responders?
Leavens said the Tournament team is “absolutely” looking at the list he put together last year to see if that makes sense. Some candidates make total sense for the theme now, and there are “other names that might fit better,” he said.
The process of rebuilding Altadena and Palisades, said Leavens, will take a Herculean effort. And volunteers and community partners who create Pasadena’s annual New Year’s tradition will mark the moment.
“This is going to be a long term thing,” Leavens said about community recovery. “It’s not just about right now, or the parade, but in the coming year and in years and years to come.”