It’s cold in Southern California, but that’s not keeping people from a 127-year-old New Year’s Day tradition. It’s the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day, and it’s barely expected to reach 40 degrees by parade’s start time. Visitors have arrived to watch the spectacle from as far as London. This year’s theme is Find Your Adventure. A B-2 stealth bomber out of Whiteman Airforce base in Missouri will fly over to start the parade. The interesting thing here is that for security reasons, they don’t fly the B-2 out here a few days or even a day before. It’s leaving Whiteman this morning and making the long flight to Pasadena, which you’d think would pose a timing problem for the TV broadcast. The military says it could be late or early. When correspondent Jim Roope asked how late or early, the Air Force said plus or minus a second or two. Wow, how’s a second or two off for timing? – Better than most of us for our commitments.
After the B-2 bomber flies over, a choir made up of military veterans who came through the VA’s New Directions program (a program that helps returning vets struggling with substance abuse and other issues) makes its entrance. Following the opening spectacular 44 floats, covered completely in organic materials, mostly roses: three of them also including pyrotechnics, three with steam and smoke, one with flames, another with a zip-line and one that features a dove release, 19 marching bands, including a high school band from Allen, Texas more than 770 strong, and 19 equestrian units will make their way down the roughly five mile route that last year was crowded by more than 700,000 people. Security is unprecedented for the two-hour parade.
