LMU Magazine - The Magazine of Loyola Marymount University

Petal By Petal

Trish Carlson '95 glues rice to a replica of Sacred Heart Chapel on LMU's Rose Parade float before parade day.

Published: January 17, 2012
By Joseph Wakelee-Lynch

When LMU’s float appeared in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 2, the university made an impression on tens of millions of TV viewers worldwide and an estimated 700,000 lining Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard.

But back in the Rosemont Pavilion where the float had been decorated, LMU volunteers made their own long-lasting impressions on parade workers and others who spent December days racing against a deadline.

More than 1,600 volunteers, signed up to help decorate the LMU float, including one who flew from Connecticut to help: Shirley Griffin, mother of junior Leslie Griffin, herself the incoming president of the Belles service organization. They came to the Rosemont Pavilion, a warehouse just a football-toss from the Rose Bowl, on three December Saturdays. From Dec. 26–Jan. 1, volunteers filled in two eight-hour shifts each day to ready a float that was paid for entirely by private, not university, funds.

The work started with “dry days,” placing onion seeds, poppy seeds, lima beans, navy beans, lentils, straw and coffee on the 55-foot float. In the days before the event, flowers came into the picture, also demanding very close attention to detail in order place them just right.

Kate Rosloff, lead volunteer with Phoenix Decorating Co., and her husband, Craig Singer, crew chief, have worked on Tournament of Roses floats for 17 years. They say they’ve never seen volunteers like those who represented LMU. During the decorating phase, volunteers are limited to 90 at a time, with many groups mustering 50 to 60 per shift. LMU, Singer says, was at capacity almost all the time.

“By far, LMU’s group was the most willing, competent and smart group of volunteers that I have ever worked with,” says Rosloff, “from cutting flowers to climbing the scaffolding to putting beans on the chapel tower. Every shift was a joy to work with, whether they were sweeping with a broom or climbing the scaffolding.”

Rosloff and Singer say the LMU volunteers stood out for their “work ethic” and willingness to help out. When the LMU float project got ahead of schedule, Rosloff asked volunteers if they’d help on others in the warehouse. Floats from the city of Los Angeles, city of Glendale, the Lions’ Club International, Farmers Insurance and the parade’s banner “Just Imagine” float were all being decorated in what Rosloff called as a “crazy, wild, open and noisy warehouse.” Though the volunteers had come to decorate LMU’s float, Rosloff says, they readily chipped in on others.

“The LMU volunteers were just incredible,” Singer says. “On the last day, we were doing petaling — placing individual petals of flowers in designated places. Within three hours, we had all the petaling done. Usually it takes twice as much time.”

Though not an alumnus, Singer claims a connection to LMU. A teacher at Western Global Awareness Magnet School in Marina del Rey, he often brings middle school students to campus for tours. Watching the float take shape in a warehouse by the Rose Bowl with features he shows his students — Sacred Heart Chapel, the William H. Hannon Library and even the bluff benches — made him especially pleased to be part of the project.

“I’m sorry the float didn’t win any awards,” says Singer, “but in the minds of the LMU’ers, it was a winner. It really spoke well of the university.”

The photo of the LMU float that introduces the Rose Parade slideshow at the homepage of LMU Magazine is by David Voss.