The Rose Parade has traditionally been the event to kick off the annual Rose Bowl Game, held in Pasadena, California. This beloved event has been an iconic New Year's Day tradition for millions that sadly has been called off for next year.
Rose Parade Canceled! The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association made the announcement this morning. The whol… https://t.co/PAemet7TjI— Rob Hayes (@Rob Hayes) 1594836117
With the Rose Parade not being cancelled since World War II, the devastating announcement of the cancellation was released on July 15th in a press release explaining their upcoming plans. Bob Miller, the president of the Pasedena Tournament of Roses Association, expressed his reasoning on the cancellation in the press release:
"The health and well-being of our parade participants and guests, as well as that of our volunteer members, professional staff, and partners is our number one priority."
In addition to the risk of COVID-19 spreading, the floats that are usually built by volunteers in March were unable to do so due to stay-at-home orders. Aside from the floats, dozens of high school marching bands are normally set to perform during the parade, but since schools have been shut down, it would be virtually impossible for them to perform due to lack of practice and travel restrictions.
Even with this disappointing news, the Chief Executive of the Tournament of Roses, David Eads is planning to team up with broadcast networks for fans to be able to enjoy the parade either socially distant or virtually. In an interview with The Times, Eads spoke about the upsetting news:
"Like most people, having never lived through a pandemic before ... our thoughts were that the parade was 10 months away and we would be fine, but as the months went on and the virus continued ravaging the state, "the reality of the pandemic set in."
