PASADENA — For the past 12 years, Glendale resident Vincent Tam has made it a point to help decorate Glendale’s annual entry in the Rose Parade.
What started as a way to earn community service hours as a junior at Glendale High School has turned into an annual tradition.
“It kind of has a snowball effect,” he said Saturday. “Every year you come, you learn something new.”
Tam was one of more than 50 volunteers — from residents and local students to city employees — who came out Saturday to the Rose Palace in Pasadena to help begin decorating the city’s 2010 float, titled “America’s Pride,” which features a 22-foot-tall bald eagle and spots for 10 riders.
The float was designed by Phoenix Decorating Co., which designed nearly 20 entries in last year’s parade. Glendale is slated to be the final float in the 2010 parade as part of the patriotic-floats category, said Councilman Dave Weaver, the float’s crew chief.
Glendale first entered a float in 1911, making it the second-oldest continuous entry in the parade, according to the Glendale Rose Float Assn. “America’s Pride” will mark the city’s 96th entry.
This weekend marked the beginning of many hours of volunteer work to cover the float with dozens of plant materials — from corn husks to carnation petals.
The city’s logo alone will use 12 materials, said assistant crew chief Bruce Cleal, who started as a float volunteer 13 years ago.
While many volunteers took a lunch break Saturday, Tam and his younger brother Albert crouched on scaffolding to meticulously decorate the eagle’s face and eyes with crushed plant materials.
“These are my experts,” Weaver said. “I don’t ever have to call them. They just show up.”
Saturday was Crescenta Valley High School freshman Kathleen Hong’s first time helping out with the city’s float. She said it seemed like a fun way to earn community service hours for school.
“I’ve always seen it on TV,” she said, while snipping purple flower petals, which would later be crushed into a fine powder to decorate the float. “I wanted to see what went on, how floats are made.”
For returning volunteer Da Hye Kim, a senior at Crescenta Valley High, the hard work pays off New Year’s Day.
“It’s a personal tradition. I’ve done it for four years,” she said. “It’s pretty fun seeing your float on TV.”
To find out more about volunteering or to sign up, visit www.glendalerosefloat. noyveg.com.
