As we turn the page on 2024 and celebrate the coming of another year, we reflect on traditions that we typically partake in to welcome the New Year.

 
After the champagne is poured and the confetti has fallen, millions watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year Day where 3.2 million flowers were used in 2023 to decorate floats. According to the Tournament of Roses, floats are designed, assembled, and broken down on a volunteer basis. Further, the Rose Parade is a shining example of the importance of landscape professionals in some of the greatest celebrations.

For example, in 2024, the Claremont Courier shared a story about the Cal Poly landscape architecture program's involvement in the development of the school's float. The story shared how Bailey Beene, a 25-year-old landscape architecture major and the Cal Poly Rose Float decoration department chair, led her team and about 20 student volunteers in preparing flowers for float use.

However, Landscape Architects' work has been well represented in the past at the parade. In 1956, the Phoenix Junior Chamber of Commerce commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a 1957 float that would fall into that year's theme??, famous firsts.

For the 2020 parade, inspired by landscape architect, Takeo Uesugi's work on Torrance's Pine Wind Garden came to life on the City of Torrance's float. The float design was sparked by a West Torrance High School senior's submission into the 2020 Torrance Rose Float Decorating contest.

From all of us at LASN Happy New Year.