A Torrance tradition continued on Wednesday, Jan. 1, with a little help along the way.
The city’s float, “What a Beautiful Day!”, was among the dozens in the Tournament of Rose Parade in Pasadena, where a theme of “Best Day Ever!” set the design context for the giant procession.
It was the 69th year that Torrance has been involved with the parade, and its float — depicting a tropical island, with a lush landscape, colorful flowers misted by waterfalls and surrounded by flying birds, swimming fish and turtles — was a hit with the judges who evaluate the Tournament floats.
It won the Tournament’s Princess Award for most outstanding floral presentation among entries 35 feet and under in length.
West High School student Sumisha Gottipaty came up with the design concept for the float. The association’s board of directors picked the concept earlier in 2024 out of 18 entries from Torrance high school students, which the Torrance City Council then approved.
“Our people are so proud of it,” Torrance Rose Float Association President Bev Findley said Thursday, noting the role of students coming up with the design.
She said the student-influenced design concepts for the Torrance floats have an award record of nine for nine.
“Our students are so talented,” she said. “It’s great to see.”
But for all the excitement – and work – the float’s team needed some resilience and some patience, too boot.
The float broke down near the front end of the Rose Parade route and had to be towed, beginning just after the famous “T.V. Corner” turn, a stretch of Colorado Boulevard between St. John Avenue and Pasadena Street.
By the end of parade, it was still being towed.
The culprit?
“You’re not going to believe this, but it didn’t have enough gas,” Findley said. “Thank goodness the judging was done before the parade.”
The float was the culmination of a long journey of work and many hours put in by volunteers, she noted.
Torrance’s float is for the first time being built by Artistic Entertainment Services. The float association previously used float builder Fiesta Parade Floats until the Tournament of Roses dropped the company as an authorized builder earlier this year, forcing the owner to close its doors.
Fiesta did help choose the design, and start construction of the float earlier this year, however, Findley said. When the switch happened, AES bought Torrance’s float chassis, or wheeled base, from Fiesta to pick up the rest of the job.
Once the foundation was ready, Torrance Rose Float Association and community members spent a couple of days in November and earlier in December to put together parts of the float, Findley said last month.
On Thursday, the day after the parade, Findley was looking forward to next year, when Torrance will celebrate 70 years participating in the parade.
“It will be a major milestone for us,” she said, noting that the Tournament announced its parade theme for the coming year just weeks after the parade.
For now, the silver lining still remains, she added. Event with the tow on Wednesday, “it was a beautiful day.”
Submissions for Torrance’s 2026 Rose Parade float are open through Jan. 20 at torrancerosefloat.org. Students who attend all Torrance high schools who are residents of Torrance are eligible to enter.
Staff Writers Ryan Carter, Steve Scauzillo, Teresa Liu, Anissa Rivera and Tyler Evains contributed to this story.