Where heading back to Pasadena CA to chat with Ray Bushnell as they get ready for The Tournament of Roses Parade. Rotary has been a part of the New Year event since 1978, and you and your club can be a part of it too.
Join me as I talk to those "amazing people turning their Actions 2 Impact all over the world. #BE THE CHANGE
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Hi there everyone, I'm Gwen Jones and welcome once
again to the Action to Impactpodcast, the weekly podcast
where I introduce you to thosefantastic people from all over
the world that are turning theiractions into impact.
Well, even though we are in themiddle of summer when this is
(00:20):
being recorded, 2026 is alreadyon the mind of Rotary Clubs in
the greater Pasadena, CaliforniaUSA area.
Why?
Because Pasadena, besides beingknown as one of the most
beautiful cities in the state ofCalifornia, is also where for
(00:42):
over a hundred years they've hada simple little parade called
the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ever heard of it?
If you're listening to me fromway far away, maybe not.
But if you're from the westcoast of the United States, the
Tournament of Roses parade istruly one of the most fantastic
(01:03):
parades that start off any NewYear's Day.
Not the Rotary calendar you NewYear's Day, but the one, you
know, January 1st.
And did you know that Rotary hasa float in the parade?
In fact, we've had a float inthe parade for quite a few
years.
Now, if this topic soundsfamiliar, it's because we've had
(01:27):
a chance to talk to some ofthese amazing Rotarians before,
but we wanted to check back tosee how they're doing.
Why?
Because you, that's right, youcan be a part of this event and
the Tournament of Roses Paradecan be one of your club's major
projects.
(01:47):
Join me, won't you?
The conversation starts rightnow.
UNKNOWN (01:53):
Music
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
Welcome back to the podcast.
Well, since I've done thispodcast for so many years,
perhaps under a different name,because we're now the Action to
Impact podcast, way back at oneof my original seasons, I talked
about the float that someRotarians put together, and I'm
being very specific about this,you guys, and you'll understand
(02:15):
later, for a Tournament of Rosesparade in Pasadena, California.
If this is not making sense yet,hang on.
Let me cut to the chase.
Ray Bushnell is here from theRotary's entrance of a float in
(02:37):
the Tournament of Roses paradethat has a Rotary theme.
I know we're being verypolitically correct, but there's
a lot of funniness to this.
Oh, hell.
Ray, we're going to talk aboutthe Rose Bowl parade and the
Rotary float.
There.
I did it.
I said it completely wrongbecause my political correctness
(02:59):
was driving me nuts.
Ray Bushnell is on the board ofdirectors, in his case, for
fundraising to tell us aboutAfloat, a fantastic parade, and
how you can be a part of it inmore ways than one.
Ray, thank you for that wildintro and being on the show
today.
SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Well, thank you, Gwen, for having me.
It's a pleasure and an honor.
SPEAKER_02 (03:21):
Now, I did hint that we've talked about the Rose
Parade before, but never with anintro of all that stuff going in
all directions.
And I will throw myself underthe bus by saying I am very,
very, very specifically callingit the Rose Parade and not the
Rose Bowl Parade.
(03:41):
How come?
Because you snagged me on thattwo or three times, you and the
rest of your board.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
Sure, yeah, the Rose Bowl is where the game is
played, and it's all under theumbrella of the Tournament of
Roses, but the parade isseparate from the Rose Bowl.
So the
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Rose Bowl is a football game, the gridiron
football game, not the soccerfootball game, where my
Washington Huskies and UCLA, myWest Coast college teams, have
played for many, many years, andI always called it the Rose Bowl
Parade and I saw it many a timeas a youth.
(04:21):
And is it just, are they tryingdesperately to try and not make
it the Rose Bowl Parade anymoreand just make it the Tournament
of Roses Parade?
SPEAKER_00 (04:31):
I think it's a branding effort that it's
actually two separate events.
So the parade in the morning isthe Rose Parade and then the
bowl game is which is sometimes,you know, championship games,
sometimes not.
You know, it's always a veryexciting game, but that is a
separate, completely separateevent.
SPEAKER_02 (04:55):
Which came first?
Which came first, the parade orthe football game?
The parade.
SPEAKER_00 (05:01):
The parade, yeah, it's been around, I think it's
136 years.
And that's maybe 97 or somethingfor the game.
SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
So I would say if you, if you are in the United
States and you're hearing myvoice, there is the Macy's
Thanksgiving day parade in NewYork city, which people argue is
the quote unquote largest paradein the United States.
And I would argue that thetournament of roses parade is
the West coast equivalent thatthere is hundreds of thousands
(05:33):
of people that line up.
And the one thing that ourparade on the West coast has
over Macy's is is that it smellsfantastic.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
It does, yeah.
Flowers, every float is coveredwith 100% organic material,
including flowers and barks andseeds.
It's become much moresophisticated over the years.
But certainly a better aromathan a helium-filled balloon.
SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
Absolutely.
And when I say that literally,so you guys need to hear that,
that this is an entire parade oforganic, And so when you hear of
a float that's covered, that thebeak of a bird is covered in
mustard seeds, just kind of putthat one together, you guys, of
(06:23):
how many thousands of mustardseeds.
And these floats don't last verylong, I do remember, as well.
SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
No, they don't.
You're right, Gwen.
A few days, the tournament hasan event.
that that starts around noon onthe day of the parade and goes
until five o'clock the next dayand by that time if the sun's
been out like it usually is inin southern california yeah the
(06:50):
the floats are not you knowthey're not as pretty as they
were starting at 8 a.m on onparade day that's for sure
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
and parade day is obviously new year's day and i i
I can remember as a youthsleeping literally on Colorado
Boulevard with the rest of myfriends in sleeping bags.
And it is quite an amazingthing.
But I don't know if there areRotarians around the world that
realize that a floatrepresenting rotary and all that
(07:24):
rotary does is has been inexistence in idea since 1978 and
in existence since 1980.
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
SPEAKER_00 (07:35):
Yeah, that's correct.
Jack Gilbert from the WilshireRotary Club dreamed this up and
thought, wow, Rotary is going tobe 75 years old in 1980.
And what better way to tell theworld about what Rotary has done
and what we hope to do, ouraspirations and our dreams.
And so he got together with afew people and talked to some
(07:56):
Rotary International peopleabout it.
And the committee was formed in1978 to put a parade, you know,
float in the parade for 1980,which was when Rotary celebrated
their 75th year.
SPEAKER_02 (08:11):
So how many, it sounds like this just has to be
just like a couple people.
How many people are involved ingetting a rotary float, which I
know we're a rotary brandedfloat on that beautiful Colorado
Boulevard.
So like, how many, what doesyour team do or how many people
(08:33):
are on your team?
I should ask.
There's a, there's a
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
total of about 90 people on the team.
And that sounds like a lot.
We've got committees in SouthernCalifornia where the work gets
done, you know, where the, wherethe, building gets done, the
designing and decorating.
But we've also got a quite largenumber of people that are
(08:55):
national advisors.
We've got people fromPennsylvania.
We've got people from Maryland,Chicago.
So it's out there.
We've got a new person that juststarted a year ago from
Tennessee.
So it's a far-flung enterprise.
And putting together a float isa year-round project.
We will start in January on thefollowing year's float.
SPEAKER_02 (09:22):
And I know you guys have the design.
If you guys have checked out thepodcast site and other places,
your design is already set.
How do you get these designs?
Do you just put a call out andsay, hey, who wants to design a
float?
SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
Yeah, we start with stuff like that, ideas and
concepts.
And then...
We'll go to the builder andthey've got a design team and
they will sometimes take theconcept.
Sometimes we take a full blownfloat in and say, this is what
we'd like.
The most important thing aboutthe float is that it needs to be
(09:58):
absolutely gorgeous, welldecorated, and it needs to
appeal to a broad audience.
This is a, you know, this is aparade that's watched by, you
know, 28 million people.
So it's not just a Rotarymessage.
You know, the Rotary brand isobviously there.
And we do a lot of work to makesure that Rotary clubs, zones,
(10:22):
districts, and trainingassemblies and stuff like that
understand the value that weoffer for, you know, from a PR
standpoint.
But it's, you know, people willsay, oh, this should be a...
You know, like a rotary project,maybe a part cleanup, maybe a...
Right,
SPEAKER_02 (10:40):
because this isn't cheap, Ray, I assume.
SPEAKER_00 (10:43):
No, it's...
Well, it's not cheap, but it's agood value.
Okay.
It's a great value.
And that's the important...
That's an important part aboutit.
Often...
prospective donors will say, youknow, gee whiz, I would really,
you know, I'd like to give you asmall contribution, but I'd
(11:04):
rather have that go to a kidthat needs a backpack or maybe
some school supplies, sneakers,whatever it may be.
And that's certainly a goodpoint.
But Rotary as an organizationneeds to be out there in the
public eye because if we don'ttalk about expanding our reach
(11:28):
and the good work that we do.
We don't do it for thepublicity, but the publicity
will help us to boost theorganization in the standing of
people so that if they hearabout Rotary during their
parade, maybe this isn't thefirst time they've heard about
it.
Oh, I've seen the signs.
(11:49):
Or I see they do projects.
I know that they're involvedwith education.
In the United States, polio hasbeen gone for so long, but
Rotary is gigantic in theeradication of polio.
But that's more of aninternational thing.
The great work that Rotary doesis often...
(12:11):
selfless act, service aboveself.
So we don't really brag aboutwhat we do or how we do it.
And this is an opportunity tochange that story a little bit,
kind of expand outside of thatcomfort zone and let people know
that Rotary is doing wonderfulthings.
They're community-based and youcan be as involved as you want.
SPEAKER_02 (12:33):
So we don't brag enough.
I mean, that's a That's reallyimportant.
I happen to agree with you.
When I do a lot of speakinggigs, I'll ask people, when was
the last time that you talked tosomebody about Rotary?
Raise your hand if you talked tosomebody about Rotary over the
last five days.
And it's amazing how many handsI don't see.
(12:58):
And so is this, are you tryingto get on literally a bandwagon,
Ray, of...
We need Rose parades.
We need 4th of July parades.
We need to walk around and tellpeople how awesome we are.
And this is just it on steroids.
And we want to do more of this.
(13:19):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (13:20):
I talk often about if, if the tournament roses
parade was the only thing rotarydid to promote itself, it
wouldn't be worth doing.
It's got to be in conjunctionwith everything else from, from
wearing your, your rotary pinto, And like you said, talking
about rotary, it's an easyconversation to have once you're
comfortable with it.
(13:41):
My rotary club did a readingproject for the local elementary
schools.
That's an easy conversation tohave.
That's what I did.
I did something like that.
And it's not a conversationoften that people are very
comfortable in starting.
So, for example, if a rotaryclub were to come out and help
(14:04):
decorate the float, or send acontribution, you know, to help
pay for the, you know, thehardware that we need.
That's a conversation starter.
You know, what my Rotary Club'sdoing?
One of the things we're doing iswe're trying to expand our
reach.
We're trying to reach out tomore people.
We're trying to let people knowwhat great work Rotary does.
(14:26):
And that's an easy conversation.
Oh, okay, you know, tell memore.
Tell me more.
That's what you want to hear.
And...
If you look at some of the otherorganizations that are involved
in the Rose Parade, like Lionsand Kiwanis and City of Hope,
Odd Fellows and Rebecca's,there's another organization.
(14:47):
The actual organization iscalled One Legacy, but their
program is Donate Life.
And they've had a float foryears.
And they're all examples of waysto reach out to expand the
knowledge that people may haveabout whatever your cause is.
And our cause is service andtaking care of the communities
(15:09):
that we're in.
And this is a way to help withthat.
Like I said, it's not the onlyway.
Clubs, zones, districts, they'vegot to do other stuff, whatever
it may be, whatever they'recomfortable.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
So let's get back to the float itself, because I
couldn't agree with you more.
I think things like this thatthat I think Rotary has a nasty
habit of not bragging aboutthemselves.
I am biased.
Like I said, I have loved thisparade for years.
It was an institution in myfamily to watch it.
(15:46):
But let's get back to the floatitself.
Because you said that you startthis design process in January.
So we are recording this inmid-July.
So you are in it.
one would think, and the newdesign is definitely out.
Did you honestly say that youjust kind of go into these
builders with this dream?
(16:07):
And so are these builders thenlooking at you saying, because
two things have to happen.
Your design has to be organicand doesn't it have to drive
down a road for what, threemiles?
So it has to move and beorganic.
So as some of your projectschange, gone to some of these
(16:27):
builders and they have said, no.
SPEAKER_00 (16:31):
Well, honestly, yes.
That's true.
They have.
If we try to slant the messageand make it too fine-tuned, then
they'll say, this isn't going towork.
The best hope we have is thatthis thing is absolutely
gorgeous, stunningly gorgeous,and it can be gorgeous in a
(16:54):
whimsical way, Most of ourfloats over the last 46 years
have been somewhat whimsical.
Okay.
Teddy bears, and we had a bunnyone year, planting a garden.
And that works really well.
People love it.
It's beautiful to look at.
There's a lot of detail, sopeople on the parade route are
(17:16):
excited to see this.
It plays real well on TV.
The commentators talk about whatgoes into making the float.
And If it's too complicated oryou're trying to get a message
across, it confuses people andconfused people are not what we
want.
You know, we want people wholove this.
(17:36):
They look at it, they go, wow,that that's, that's
unbelievable.
Look at this part, look at thatpart.
You know, if we have someanimation, if it's appropriate,
you know, that always draws alot of attention.
Our, our riders and walkers, youknow, we'll be waving and happy
new year from rotary and thecrowd responds to that stuff.
And it's, The last thing in theworld you want is somebody to
(17:59):
say, look, you know, my brain isscrambled on this.
It's New Year's morning, youknow, in Pasadena and look away,
you know, because we want that,you know, brought to you by
rotary.
SPEAKER_02 (18:11):
You want those nearly 30 million people looking
at that float, simple messagefast, because for all those
people on TV, they might see itfor five, six minutes compared
to the thousands that are goingto see it the whole parade
route.
But fast, simple, and not breakdown.
SPEAKER_01 (18:32):
Oh, you don't want to break down.
SPEAKER_02 (18:35):
You don't want to break down.
I keep saying this word, organicmaterials.
How much of this float, besidesits structure, I mean, come on,
we have to be able, they knowthat wood has to make the
structure, which arguably isorganic.
But how much of the float has toactually be organic?
flowers, grasses, seeds, etcetera?
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
The entire float needs to be covered with organic
plant material.
So everything.
That can include seeds,everything.
There's a, you know, youmentioned you don't want to
break down.
There's a trailer hitch.
In case of a breakdown, there isa trailer hitch.
And even the trailer hitch hasto be covered with something
organic, whether it's coffee orpepper, you know, something.
(19:24):
So the entire visible...
Now, there are some exceptions.
Okay.
People always call me on this.
They say, well, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
I mean, the engine is not going to...
The carburetor in the engine isnot organic.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
No, it's just carbon.
Just everything that you cansee.
There are exceptions.
They put an antique truck on afarmer's...
float one year.
And they didn't have to coverthat.
They had a big electronicscreen, like a 200-foot
electronic screen.
And it probably wasn't 200 feet,but...
(19:55):
It
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
was really super big.
SPEAKER_00 (19:58):
Okay.
There are exceptions to theeverything has to be covered
with organic materials.
But that's all handled by thetournament and the builders.
And everything underneath is,you know, it's a truck chassis.
So it's...
And these...
Trucks, they don't get a lot ofmiles put on them, so they last
for years and years.
So it's like depending on thesize of the float, the size of a
(20:20):
truck.
Some of these are pretty bigtruck chassis, and they drive.
One really interesting point isthat generally speaking, the
person that's actually driving,that's on the gear shift and the
steering wheel, generally can'tsee out.
So there's two things thathappen.
(20:42):
Number one, they cut a hole inthe floor so that the person can
look down at the ground.
And then there's a rose coloredline that's painted all along
the five and a half mile paraderoute.
And so they know left or right,you know, I've got to keep that
line.
You've got
SPEAKER_02 (21:00):
to follow that
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
line
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
that's
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
in the bottom of your float.
Sure.
And then there's a spotter.
That sits up in the front, notoutside, but in the front looks
through a screen and kind oftells him, OK, slow down.
You know, you're getting tooclose.
Slow down or speed up.
SPEAKER_02 (21:15):
Yeah, because that was my next question.
What if what if a kid runsacross the thing or there's or
the whole parade is held upbecause of something?
That's what the spotter does.
That's what the spotter does.
Yeah.
Safety
SPEAKER_00 (21:27):
is so important.
The tournament was a wonderfuljob.
When we're building this thing,we have to go through three
different safety tests.
And one of them is, can weevacuate all the participants
off the float in 45 seconds orless?
Wow.
Safety is very, very important.
SPEAKER_02 (21:46):
So there's twice now you've talked about, and we're
going to go back to how everydayRotarians can be a part of
actually either making,contributing to, or riding on
this float.
You did mention riders on thefloat.
And I know for the past quite afew years, it has been the
(22:06):
Rotary International President.
So I know you are notnecessarily affiliated with
Rotary, but Rotary actually mustreally love this because You
have the Rotary, this is one ofthe trademarks of the Rotary
year for the Rotary president isto be on this float.
(22:28):
And how many years has ourpresident been on the float?
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
I'm not sure, but it's become a tradition.
And once it started, we alwayshad some riders and or walkers
involved with the float.
But once the president startedriding, it became a tradition
and that's not likely to getbroken.
SPEAKER_02 (22:49):
And it's fun.
I mean, I think it's great thatespecially the year friend of
the show, Jennifer Jones, wasthere because that also added
the fact that she was our firstfemale Rotary International
president.
And of course, Stephanie, yourchick followed in her places
this this past year.
But we have a new president fromItaly, Francisco, and he hadn't
(23:16):
heard of the parade.
And I'm here to tell you.
He's excited to ride on hisfloat.
I'm letting
SPEAKER_01 (23:21):
you know.
SPEAKER_00 (23:23):
I think they have a really good time.
Whatever concepts that peoplehave about a parade, we've all
seen small town USA parades.
This is different.
This is radically different.
This is a big multinationalevent.
(23:43):
People come from all over theworld to participate, to help.
You know, put the floats in.
Organizations come fromeverywhere.
So it's a much bigger deal, Ithink, once an RI president gets
here and sees what goes intothis.
It's an eye-opener.
It really is.
SPEAKER_02 (24:03):
And we have very lovely RI presidents that I am
sure, when they see this ontheir calendar, are like, I'm
going to be in a parade?
Okay.
And I'm sure it is rather agobsmacked idea.
But you also said there's someother people that are waving on
the float as well as walkers.
(24:26):
Who are those people?
Let's say I want to be a rideron a Rose Bowl float.
Is that a possibility for aquote unquote everyday Rotarian?
How do you do that?
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
Absolutely.
So we'll start at the topbecause that's the rider spot.
It's a$10,000 contribution tothe float committee.
to ride, and that secures you aspot.
We have anywhere from maybe sixto eight available spots.
Of course, the president's takenup by a spot.
SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
Yeah, you can't kick he or she off of that one.
Okay.
All right.
Whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
I'm going to get to ambassadorships in a little
while.
Okay.
We offer that as a sponsorshiplevel, and one ambassador from
all the ambassadors gets...
chosen out of a bucket toactually ride on the float.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
Okay, so you have one going to the international
president.
Two to the president.
Two to the president.
So president plus one, okay,gets to ride on the float.
And then you have an ambassadorof picking out of a bucket.
So that's a prized spot, a spotthat's given away.
So that's three spots.
You said there's like eight ornine spots.
Who else gets the other five orso?
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
So we'll make an attempt to sell those.
Oh, OK.
Ten thousand dollars.
We've had people that just loveto do this.
And one person's written, Ithink, four times.
I think she brought her husbandone time and I think she paid
for a friend one time.
So she just loves it.
She just thinks this is thegreatest thing ever.
And some people don't reallyknow about that.
SPEAKER_02 (26:03):
Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think a lot of
people know about it.
UNKNOWN (26:07):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (26:07):
It's for select people, people that really have
it as an item that they want todo.
And it's always a greatexperience.
People always come back with,you know, this is something I
had no real idea what to expect.
When you turn the corner, theparade kicks off at the corner
(26:28):
of Orange Grove and ColoradoBoulevard.
Yeah.
And that's the traditional startis that right-hand turn onto the
parade route.
It's about a mile downhill.
Okay.
And then a little bit of flatand then a mile uphill.
And that whole entire bowl isfilled with people.
There's 700,000 people on theparade route every year.
(26:51):
And it's just, you know, it'san, oh, wow moment.
You know, it's early, generallyearly in the morning.
You know, it's fresh.
It's a new year.
It's just so exciting to be outthere as a, you know, as a
participant.
And people just don't know.
You know, the presidents comeback and say, wow, you know,
nothing could have prepared mefor what I was about to
SPEAKER_02 (27:12):
see.
It's funny because there'smulti-layers to this interview.
Of course, we're talking rightnow about people riding the
float, but if all my listenersremember, Ray just said a little
while ago that the man or womanwho is driving this float is
following a little rose-coloredline.
(27:32):
What you've just told us is thisspotter and this blind driver
literally take a right godownhill to a flat part and then
uphill.
Is that right?
That's right.
700,000 people watching them andwe hope the float makes it.
I'm sorry.
(27:52):
It's my humor.
I assume we have never brokendown, right?
Just for the record.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
I believe that we have broken down, but we've
never broken down early.
Okay.
Our breakdown occurred after theTV cameras.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
The
SPEAKER_00 (28:10):
worst thing you can have is to be towed into view of
the TV.
Of the
SPEAKER_02 (28:13):
TV cameras.
We're Rotarians, so we adapt.
We could just get on the backand push it the rest of the way.
We would have done it.
That could happen.
We're over a million strong.
So those are the people that areriding, so you can pay for those
spots.
But friend of the show andfriend of mine, Tom Gump, I've
seen a couple times walkingbeside the float.
(28:35):
You can also walk as well asride?
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (28:39):
Yeah, this year we have 16 Walker spots.
Okay.
And five of those are reservedfor Southern California and
Nevada districts that have beenstaunch supporters.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (28:52):
wow.
Okay.
Yeah, they contribute a lot ofmoney.
The other spots will be filledwith people who contribute
$7,500.
And that's kind of a buy it now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:06):
Okay.
So humor me.
So it's$5,000 to ride on theboat, float, excuse me.
It's$5,000 to ride on the float.
$10,000.
Oh, thank you.
Okay.
I was like, wait a minute, I cansit down?
And I was like, wait a minute, Ican sit down for less?
(29:29):
But you do get the exercise ofwalking.
So, and may I add, if you dowalk, you get In my opinion, one
of the coolest rotary swags thatwe have, and that is the Rotary
Rose Parade hat and jacket andother stuff that you guys sell
(29:52):
that goes with the whole thing.
And they're bright red, which Iknow is not a traditional rotary
color, but go check them outbecause that's something you can
get as well.
Is that true?
That's
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
right.
Yeah, we've got a lot of stuffavailable for sale on the
website.
Patches and pins, the jacketsavailable, some shirts, hats.
There's a lot of
SPEAKER_02 (30:11):
stuff.
So you can ride it for free ifyou're Rotary International
president.
You can pay$10,000 and ride onthe float.
You can pay$7,500 and walk.
So that's already a lot ofmoney.
How much does a float like thiscost?
SPEAKER_00 (30:31):
The float itself for this year is about$180,000.
And that's to build it, test it,you know, make sure, you know,
that's our price to thecontractor to actually build
that, drive it, you know, makesure it's safe.
So the average float in the RoseParade is about$300,000 in cost.
SPEAKER_02 (30:56):
So why is ours so cheap?
Well...
It's supposed to say that we'rea nonprofit service organization
and we want to, you know,
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
no, that, that, that is true.
But, but this is when you lookat the value and we talked about
that just briefly earlier, whenyou look at the value, there's
a, there's a tournament puts outa earned media equivalent.
Right.
Number.
And that's, that's about, Ithink it's$265 million.
(31:28):
Right.
which means that somebody wouldneed to pay$265 million to get
the exposure that the RoseParade gets.
Wow.
And that's a large number.
So you divide that up by 40floats and some equestrian units
and bands and stuff.
And that's where the value comesin because nobody's spending
(31:51):
that kind of money.
No.
We're raising the money to dothis project.
you know, through these WalkerRiders, some corporate sponsors,
stuff like that, clubcontributions.
We'll send out a letter to clubsasking them for a small
contribution.
And that works out really well.
But add up all of what is spent.
(32:13):
It's nowhere near the value.
And that's really what makes ita really good value.
It's a great value proposition.
We're hoping to get up to a fewminutes in front of the TV
cameras and a little bit of talkabout what Rotary does.
(32:34):
The commentators will getscripts, and some of it includes
what the flowers are and stufflike that.
Certain networks focus more onthat.
Other networks focus more on theservice organization itself.
And then you've mentionedbreakdowns a few times.
We don't ever want to breakdown.
(32:55):
But one year, somebody, a coupleof floats ahead of us, broke
down.
So we were stopped there forlike, I think something like 10
or 12 minutes.
And I'm sure they must have beenscrambling.
Somebody Google what does Rotarydo?
Because they really covered itin depth.
So...
So breakdowns can be positive.
(33:17):
Yeah, for
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
some people.
But if somebody's going to breakdown, have them be with us on
the television screen.
SPEAKER_00 (33:23):
That's right.
Yeah, we want them close so thatwe can get a little extra time.
SPEAKER_02 (33:27):
So I know that this podcast for some folks has
turned into Marketing 101, but Ido share the last 30 plus years
of my life with a publicist.
And so marketing and publicityis something that this house
understands.
But I'm sure, just to play thedevil's advocate, there's some
(33:48):
people that are going$100,000.
That's a lot of books.
You mentioned that you did aproject about books.
That's a lot of polio plusmoney.
That's a lot of Paul Harrismoney.
That's a lot of...
How do you get the averageperson to understand the value
(34:09):
of of marketing the value ofsomething like this?
How do you get them tounderstand that?
Because I'm sure there's peoplelistening to this going, Gwen,
sounds like a lot of fun.
I love a good parade, but comeon.
That's a lot of money for this.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
How do you help them understand?
And sometimes people are notgoing to understand if...
Service projects are in yourheart and you would do anything
to create a service project.
And maybe you pay for it out ofyour own pocket.
You're probably not going tounderstand the value of
marketing.
Okay.
(34:46):
Every Rotary club and everyRotary district will lose every
member it ever had.
if you're around for a hundredyears, your club is around, my
club's coming up on a hundredyears.
We don't have any foundingmembers.
There's nobody, no, no originalmember.
SPEAKER_02 (35:04):
If there was, that's a podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (35:10):
So, so organizations, all
organizations, even commercialentities, they've got to
replace, you know, customersthat move on or, or right.
Tarians that move on donors thatmove on.
And without, properly runbranding and marketing, and if
you will, advertising, there'sno way to get the word out about
(35:34):
enough, effectively enough, tohave new members say, hey, that
sounds like something I'd liketo be interested in.
And that's the first step.
And for us, we believe, and alot of nonprofits believe, if
you remember the little listthat i gave earlier there's a
lot of non-profits that are inthe parade you know they
(35:57):
wouldn't be doing it all thosepeople wouldn't be doing it just
because they're following theleader like rotary and and
saying oh rotary does it we weshould do it you know it's uh
it's working and it's it's agreat way to introduce like
people that come out and anddecorate and maybe interact
clubs from the local area.
People come from far away.
(36:18):
We've had foreign exchangestudents and ambassadorial
scholars.
So it's a wide-reaching event isthe Rose Parade.
And being involved in that is away of advertising or talking
about what it is that Rotarydoes and how we do it.
(36:40):
And this particular thing isjust fun.
People love it.
They come out.
You can see when the decoratorsget there that maybe there's
some Interact kids, 30 Interactkids from a school.
And they're like, oh, I got toput my phone away?
Oh, man, what are you talkingabout?
And an hour into this thing.
(37:03):
They've made new friends.
They're talking about stuff.
They're maybe laying on theirback, gluing seeds to the bottom
of some animal.
And it's just fun to see that.
You know, there's kids workingtogether.
They're always adultsupervisors, and they're taking
their time.
And that's what really,ultimately, what Rotary is all
(37:25):
about.
It's creating that sense ofcommunity.
And the sense of communityaround our flow is just
enormous.
And it's a good value.
The value proposition issomething that, you know,
somebody that says, I'd rathergive a pair of sneakers to a kid
that needs them than$100 to thefloat committee.
(37:47):
They don't understand the valuethat comes out of this.
And you need to do both.
You know, we can't just build afloat and say, hey, we're great.
SPEAKER_02 (37:58):
You still need$100 for the
SPEAKER_00 (38:00):
pair of shoes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:02):
So...
So we've kind of covered a lotof stuff, everything from
following rose-colored lines towe don't break down to this
whole thing started off inJanuary to$10,000 level,$7,500
level to what you just dabbledin this last time is that at the
(38:23):
end of this whole thing, thisfloat is decorated by Rotarians
just like you and me.
And if...
Somebody wants to decorate afloat in the Rose Bowl Parade.
Is that something, Ray, thatyou'd be happy to have Rotarians
come and join you and help?
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (38:42):
we'd be thrilled.
We'd be thrilled.
Okay.
Starting in December, onSaturdays in December up until
Christmas, there's drydecorating that goes on.
We've got 16 hours a day.
Oh, my gosh.
40-person shifts to fill.
Wow.
So dry things.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
So you're talking about like seeds or grasses or
things that can last 30 days andstill look good.
Is that
SPEAKER_00 (39:08):
right?
Exactly.
One of the things, thecreativity that goes into this,
you know, anybody that comes outto decorate is going to see
this.
If they need a particular colorand it's not available on flour,
they'll cut petals off of floursand put them in a food processor
and blend that thing up to makea specific color.
And it's just amazing thecreativity that goes into how to
(39:33):
cover everything with organicmaterial and get the colors that
you want.
SPEAKER_02 (39:38):
Wow.
Okay.
So starting in December, anyRotarian from around the world
who is listening to my voice orinteractor or Rotaractor who is
listening to my voice.
And by the way, they can go tothe website, I assume, to
volunteer.
SPEAKER_00 (39:53):
Is that correct?
Okay.
Decorator signups will start the1st.
The first Saturday in September.
In September.
SPEAKER_02 (40:00):
So in September, you're going to start decorating
this thing.
Sign up.
Sign up.
Excuse me.
Sign ups are in September.
In December, you actually startdecorating this thing with
Rotarians from all over theworld and right down the street.
And then Christmas Day.
(40:22):
And then that week betweenChristmas and New Year's.
Is that...
just insanity?
And how many volunteers do youhave working in that place?
Because that would be crunchtime, is it not?
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
It is.
It absolutely is.
So Christmas, nothing.
Everybody gets the day off.
Everybody gets the day off.
Okay.
The 26th, different story.
So the volunteers will come in,and that's when a crew chief
from Phoenix Decorating, that'sour builder, crew chief is
responsible for setting upteams, what they're going to do,
(40:57):
how they're going to do it,inspecting the work.
And that's really when thisstuff starts.
And there's two shifts.
There's a morning shift, 8o'clock start, and an afternoon
shift, a 4 o'clock start.
So, yeah, there's plenty ofopportunity.
And then there's different–Different jobs for different
(41:17):
skill levels.
Some of this stuff, you know,because the floats are so high.
They're 20 feet high.
Some of the stuff is done onscaffolding.
So you've got to be comfortablewith heights.
Okay.
And then sometimes people arebetter at the– Maybe one year, I
remember we had a crocodile, andthe crocodile needed to look
(41:37):
realistic, so they cut Brusselssprouts in half and glued
Brussels sprouts on that.
I'm telling you, the creativity,it's astonishing.
It's just fun to go out thereand watch.
What are they going to do today?
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Benji's the same way again.
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (41:51):
it's
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
fun.
SPEAKER_02 (41:52):
Oh, my God.
So anybody can be a part of it.
Volunteering sign-up starts inSeptember.
You can write on it.
You can walk.
It is a way to market.
It is a way to tell the worldabout us.
Oh, I know I had one question.
Is it always based on the themeof the year?
(42:14):
I know we don't technically havethemes, but you know what I'm
saying?
Like right now we are, as we'rerecording this, it's united for
good.
Do we, does the, does the floatalways echo that?
Or are you guys, are you guysyour own independent thing?
Yeah.
We do
SPEAKER_00 (42:30):
try to tie it to that to get that extra push.
And that's kind of more theinternal message.
So anytime you've got a brandingand marketing thing, you've got
the internal message talking tothe company, the people that
work there, their customers.
And then you've got the externalmessage, which is talking to
everybody.
Right.
(42:51):
So we want it to be universal.
And Unite for Good is sopowerful.
That's just such a great theme.
And that's actually the name ofour float this year.
The theme of the name is Unitefor Good.
We also try and have the walkersand riders have been involved
with some sort of a rotary areaof focus.
(43:15):
So when we put this up onFacebook and on our website, you
know, we can talk about youknow, this was, this was a, you
know, if the float lends itself,we had a water well one year.
So, so water was obvious that,you know, so, so we had people
that had done water projectsaround the world and they kind
(43:35):
of focused on that in theirsocial media interviews and, and
interviews for our website.
SPEAKER_02 (43:44):
So on a, personal level.
And I thank you so much for, forRay, for, for being on the show,
for reminding us again, I knowthis kind of, this particular
interview went down more of a,of a marketing turn, but I, I
actually agree with you.
I think we don't, we don't dressup and have fun and go tell
(44:05):
people about Rotary.
And I think this Rose Bowlparade is a, excuse me, Rose
parade.
Oh, and I was being so good upto that point.
that this Rose Parade is one ofthose marvelous things.
But what do you get out of it,personally?
I mean, you're obviously, it'sright down the street from you.
(44:26):
You live in this area.
This is part of your traditionof Rotary.
What do you personally get outof doing the Rose Parade?
SPEAKER_00 (44:38):
Well, that's a great question, Wynne.
I like it because there's somany facets to it and it's not
something that you get everyday.
You know, I get it every daybecause this is the main thing
that I work on and I work on itall year.
But I enjoy the various aspectsof this, like the design,
(44:59):
working with the designcommittee, working with the
builder.
And I think it's a remarkableway to tell the world that in a
very soft way that we're hereand we're going to be here for a
long time.
And if you've got a heart forservice, take a look.
And that means a lot to mepersonally, is to be able to
(45:22):
bring a message like that topeople.
New Year's Day is very special.
It's a new beginning.
And it's, you know, there's...
generally a great deal ofoptimism and hope.
And I love that aspect of it.
And I think that when you seethat pride of ownership, Rotary
pride of ownership in that floatthat you've had something to do
(45:42):
with all year, it's justremarkable to me.
If I could, I'd like to touch onanother point that's really
important to me.
And that is the RotaryInternational hosts a summit
surrounding the parade withLyons, Optimus, and Kiwanis, and
obviously, and the presidentsfrom those organizations get
(46:05):
together, and they get abreakfast with their committees,
and then they go away, and theytalk about private things,
whatever, you know, I can onlyimagine.
I'm, you know, way above, but Ican tell you that for years, for
for over 46 years.
(46:26):
This summit's been taking place,and the power that goes into
these organizations, it's notjust Rotary, but Lions,
Optimists, and Kiwanis, billionsof dollars in foundation assets
and millions of people that havea heart for service that want to
go out to the world and dostuff.
(46:48):
And what the presidents wouldoften talk about in years past
was, yeah, you know, you'reright.
This is too big to let go.
And obviously the program needsto be, and you get four
different answers.
You know, Rotary would say,well, we're this close to polio.
(47:08):
You know, we got to finish that.
Right.
Everybody had their own littlepet project, if you will, that
was unique to themselves, right?
And what happened a few yearsago was Mark Maloney, one of the
past Rotaries.
Yeah, past president.
It's been a friend of the show.
(47:28):
Yes.
Said, I'm not going to do itthat way.
What I want to do is I wanteverybody right now to get your
calendar out and let's find adate that we can meet.
We're going to host this meetingin Evanston.
And I want you to bring not onlyyourselves, but I want you to
bring friends.
your president-elect or whateveryou call them, and I want you to
(47:50):
bring your top program person,whoever's hands-on steering
that, you know, the programaspect of your organizations.
And they met in Evanston, andthat was just before COVID hit.
And they had a wholeinfrastructure in place,
agreements and a wholeinfrastructure in place about
how to cooperate with eachother.
And it made a giganticdifference to the– you know,
(48:14):
lots and lots of people.
And again, this wasn't somethingthat got national or
international attention.
It was done because it was theright thing to do.
And since then, they'veorganized, you know, a day of
service, a week of service.
They've really done an excellentjob of how to bring these four
(48:35):
organizations together tocollaborate for the good of
society.
And that to me, that's just soheartwarming.
I love having been a part ofSomething like that.
And the Rose Parade made thathappen.
I mean,
SPEAKER_02 (48:48):
is that-
SPEAKER_00 (48:48):
If it weren't for the Rose Parade, that wouldn't
have happened.
You're absolutely right.
SPEAKER_02 (48:53):
Yeah.
Isn't that funny?
So, wow.
I couldn't think of a better wayto wrap things up.
So it's been around since 1980,an official float, that is.
It is the Rose Parade orTournament of Roses Parade.
Tensao, you can write on it.
(49:14):
75, you can walk next to it.
You can sprinkle seeds on it.
You can give if you want to orbuy a hat on the website if
you'd be so kind.
And Ray Bushnell, did I coverjust about all of it?
SPEAKER_00 (49:31):
I think you covered just about all of it.
One thing that I'd like to addis that ambassadorship thing
that we talked about a littlebit earlier.
Please.
That's$500 to become anambassador, and the expectation
is that you'll help us promote.
You'll help us promote in yourclub, in your district, maybe at
your zones, stuff like that.
We've got special ambassadormeetings, and there's some
(49:53):
special swag that ambassadorsget that nobody else gets, and
that opportunity for oneambassador.
to be drawn out and get to ridethe float.
SPEAKER_02 (50:07):
All right, 500 bucks and you're an ambassador.
500, yeah.
May have to think about that.
I know of a podcast or two.
Ray, thank you so much fortalking to me about a beloved
part of my childhood and that Istill get up.
I don't have to get up as earlynow to watch it on the East
Coast, I have to admit.
(50:27):
I would also recommend Rotariansto go look up the Rotary Rose
Parade.
All past years are up there.
It's got great pictures andmaybe throw out an idea of a of
a trip to Pasadena, California.
It's a pretty cool place.
(50:48):
Absolutely, it is.
One of my favorite cities.
Ray, thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Well, thank you, Gwen.
Thanks for all you do, andyou've got a heart for promoting
Rotary out there, and so I thinkit's kind of a synergy there
between us.
I want to thank you for havingme on.
It's been an honor.
SPEAKER_02 (51:07):
Well, thank you, and I look forward to seeing that
float, if not in person.
UNKNOWN (51:13):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (51:13):
Let me know if you're coming out this
SPEAKER_02 (51:16):
way.
UNKNOWN (51:16):
I would.
SPEAKER_02 (51:18):
I promise, Ray, I will let you know.
I'm still trying to likecoordinate everything.
And what do you guys think?
What if I did a live podcastfrom the gluing of the seeds and
the putting down of the petals?
I think it would be a lot offun.
Of course, that might have to bea video podcast because I don't
(51:39):
think sticking seeds down would,you know, through the ears make
a lot of sense.
But who knows?
Thank you again, Ray.
And hey, clubs, check it out.
The Tournament of Roses Parade,January 1st for many more years
to come.
And I hope to see a rotary floatthere as well.
(52:00):
Well, hey, as usual, at the endof the show, I have a little bit
of business.
If you know someone who'sturning their actions into
impact locally, globally,anywhere in the world, please
let me know.
The email has not changed, eventhough the name has.
RotarianPod at gmail.com and ifyou're liking the show do tell a
(52:24):
friend you can get the podcastwherever you get your podcasts
and every time you listen to itit makes it easier for others to
find us alrighty then until nextweek take care of yourself and
the world around you and we'llhear you next time on the Action
to Impact podcast have awonderful week everybody we'll
(52:47):
talk to you soon Thank you.
Hi there everyone, I'm Gwen Jones and welcome once
again to the Action to Impactpodcast, the weekly podcast
where I introduce you to thosefantastic people from all over
the world that are turning theiractions into impact.
Well, even though we are in themiddle of summer when this is
(00:20):
being recorded, 2026 is alreadyon the mind of Rotary Clubs in
the greater Pasadena, CaliforniaUSA area.
Why?
Because Pasadena, besides beingknown as one of the most
beautiful cities in the state ofCalifornia, is also where for
(00:42):
over a hundred years they've hada simple little parade called
the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Ever heard of it?
If you're listening to me fromway far away, maybe not.
But if you're from the westcoast of the United States, the
Tournament of Roses parade istruly one of the most fantastic
(01:03):
parades that start off any NewYear's Day.
Not the Rotary calendar you NewYear's Day, but the one, you
know, January 1st.
And did you know that Rotary hasa float in the parade?
In fact, we've had a float inthe parade for quite a few
years.
Now, if this topic soundsfamiliar, it's because we've had
(01:27):
a chance to talk to some ofthese amazing Rotarians before,
but we wanted to check back tosee how they're doing.
Why?
Because you, that's right, youcan be a part of this event and
the Tournament of Roses Paradecan be one of your club's major
projects.
(01:47):
Join me, won't you?
The conversation starts rightnow.
UNKNOWN (01:53):
Music
SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
Welcome back to the podcast.
Well, since I've done thispodcast for so many years,
perhaps under a different name,because we're now the Action to
Impact podcast, way back at oneof my original seasons, I talked
about the float that someRotarians put together, and I'm
being very specific about this,you guys, and you'll understand
(02:15):
later, for a Tournament of Rosesparade in Pasadena, California.
If this is not making sense yet,hang on.
Let me cut to the chase.
Ray Bushnell is here from theRotary's entrance of a float in
(02:37):
the Tournament of Roses paradethat has a Rotary theme.
I know we're being verypolitically correct, but there's
a lot of funniness to this.
Oh, hell.
Ray, we're going to talk aboutthe Rose Bowl parade and the
Rotary float.
There.
I did it.
I said it completely wrongbecause my political correctness
(02:59):
was driving me nuts.
Ray Bushnell is on the board ofdirectors, in his case, for
fundraising to tell us aboutAfloat, a fantastic parade, and
how you can be a part of it inmore ways than one.
Ray, thank you for that wildintro and being on the show
today.
SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Well, thank you, Gwen, for having me.
It's a pleasure and an honor.
SPEAKER_02 (03:21):
Now, I did hint that we've talked about the Rose
Parade before, but never with anintro of all that stuff going in
all directions.
And I will throw myself underthe bus by saying I am very,
very, very specifically callingit the Rose Parade and not the
Rose Bowl Parade.
(03:41):
How come?
Because you snagged me on thattwo or three times, you and the
rest of your board.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
Sure, yeah, the Rose Bowl is where the game is
played, and it's all under theumbrella of the Tournament of
Roses, but the parade isseparate from the Rose Bowl.
So the
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Rose Bowl is a football game, the gridiron
football game, not the soccerfootball game, where my
Washington Huskies and UCLA, myWest Coast college teams, have
played for many, many years, andI always called it the Rose Bowl
Parade and I saw it many a timeas a youth.
(04:21):
And is it just, are they tryingdesperately to try and not make
it the Rose Bowl Parade anymoreand just make it the Tournament
of Roses Parade?
SPEAKER_00 (04:31):
I think it's a branding effort that it's
actually two separate events.
So the parade in the morning isthe Rose Parade and then the
bowl game is which is sometimes,you know, championship games,
sometimes not.
You know, it's always a veryexciting game, but that is a
separate, completely separateevent.
SPEAKER_02 (04:55):
Which came first?
Which came first, the parade orthe football game?
The parade.
SPEAKER_00 (05:01):
The parade, yeah, it's been around, I think it's
136 years.
And that's maybe 97 or somethingfor the game.
SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
So I would say if you, if you are in the United
States and you're hearing myvoice, there is the Macy's
Thanksgiving day parade in NewYork city, which people argue is
the quote unquote largest paradein the United States.
And I would argue that thetournament of roses parade is
the West coast equivalent thatthere is hundreds of thousands
(05:33):
of people that line up.
And the one thing that ourparade on the West coast has
over Macy's is is that it smellsfantastic.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
It does, yeah.
Flowers, every float is coveredwith 100% organic material,
including flowers and barks andseeds.
It's become much moresophisticated over the years.
But certainly a better aromathan a helium-filled balloon.
SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
Absolutely.
And when I say that literally,so you guys need to hear that,
that this is an entire parade oforganic, And so when you hear of
a float that's covered, that thebeak of a bird is covered in
mustard seeds, just kind of putthat one together, you guys, of
(06:23):
how many thousands of mustardseeds.
And these floats don't last verylong, I do remember, as well.
SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
No, they don't.
You're right, Gwen.
A few days, the tournament hasan event.
that that starts around noon onthe day of the parade and goes
until five o'clock the next dayand by that time if the sun's
been out like it usually is inin southern california yeah the
(06:50):
the floats are not you knowthey're not as pretty as they
were starting at 8 a.m on onparade day that's for sure
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
and parade day is obviously new year's day and i i
I can remember as a youthsleeping literally on Colorado
Boulevard with the rest of myfriends in sleeping bags.
And it is quite an amazingthing.
But I don't know if there areRotarians around the world that
realize that a floatrepresenting rotary and all that
(07:24):
rotary does is has been inexistence in idea since 1978 and
in existence since 1980.
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
SPEAKER_00 (07:35):
Yeah, that's correct.
Jack Gilbert from the WilshireRotary Club dreamed this up and
thought, wow, Rotary is going tobe 75 years old in 1980.
And what better way to tell theworld about what Rotary has done
and what we hope to do, ouraspirations and our dreams.
And so he got together with afew people and talked to some
(07:56):
Rotary International peopleabout it.
And the committee was formed in1978 to put a parade, you know,
float in the parade for 1980,which was when Rotary celebrated
their 75th year.
SPEAKER_02 (08:11):
So how many, it sounds like this just has to be
just like a couple people.
How many people are involved ingetting a rotary float, which I
know we're a rotary brandedfloat on that beautiful Colorado
Boulevard.
So like, how many, what doesyour team do or how many people
(08:33):
are on your team?
I should ask.
There's a, there's a
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
total of about 90 people on the team.
And that sounds like a lot.
We've got committees in SouthernCalifornia where the work gets
done, you know, where the, wherethe, building gets done, the
designing and decorating.
But we've also got a quite largenumber of people that are
(08:55):
national advisors.
We've got people fromPennsylvania.
We've got people from Maryland,Chicago.
So it's out there.
We've got a new person that juststarted a year ago from
Tennessee.
So it's a far-flung enterprise.
And putting together a float isa year-round project.
We will start in January on thefollowing year's float.
SPEAKER_02 (09:22):
And I know you guys have the design.
If you guys have checked out thepodcast site and other places,
your design is already set.
How do you get these designs?
Do you just put a call out andsay, hey, who wants to design a
float?
SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
Yeah, we start with stuff like that, ideas and
concepts.
And then...
We'll go to the builder andthey've got a design team and
they will sometimes take theconcept.
Sometimes we take a full blownfloat in and say, this is what
we'd like.
The most important thing aboutthe float is that it needs to be
(09:58):
absolutely gorgeous, welldecorated, and it needs to
appeal to a broad audience.
This is a, you know, this is aparade that's watched by, you
know, 28 million people.
So it's not just a Rotarymessage.
You know, the Rotary brand isobviously there.
And we do a lot of work to makesure that Rotary clubs, zones,
(10:22):
districts, and trainingassemblies and stuff like that
understand the value that weoffer for, you know, from a PR
standpoint.
But it's, you know, people willsay, oh, this should be a...
You know, like a rotary project,maybe a part cleanup, maybe a...
Right,
SPEAKER_02 (10:40):
because this isn't cheap, Ray, I assume.
SPEAKER_00 (10:43):
No, it's...
Well, it's not cheap, but it's agood value.
Okay.
It's a great value.
And that's the important...
That's an important part aboutit.
Often...
prospective donors will say, youknow, gee whiz, I would really,
you know, I'd like to give you asmall contribution, but I'd
(11:04):
rather have that go to a kidthat needs a backpack or maybe
some school supplies, sneakers,whatever it may be.
And that's certainly a goodpoint.
But Rotary as an organizationneeds to be out there in the
public eye because if we don'ttalk about expanding our reach
(11:28):
and the good work that we do.
We don't do it for thepublicity, but the publicity
will help us to boost theorganization in the standing of
people so that if they hearabout Rotary during their
parade, maybe this isn't thefirst time they've heard about
it.
Oh, I've seen the signs.
(11:49):
Or I see they do projects.
I know that they're involvedwith education.
In the United States, polio hasbeen gone for so long, but
Rotary is gigantic in theeradication of polio.
But that's more of aninternational thing.
The great work that Rotary doesis often...
(12:11):
selfless act, service aboveself.
So we don't really brag aboutwhat we do or how we do it.
And this is an opportunity tochange that story a little bit,
kind of expand outside of thatcomfort zone and let people know
that Rotary is doing wonderfulthings.
They're community-based and youcan be as involved as you want.
SPEAKER_02 (12:33):
So we don't brag enough.
I mean, that's a That's reallyimportant.
I happen to agree with you.
When I do a lot of speakinggigs, I'll ask people, when was
the last time that you talked tosomebody about Rotary?
Raise your hand if you talked tosomebody about Rotary over the
last five days.
And it's amazing how many handsI don't see.
(12:58):
And so is this, are you tryingto get on literally a bandwagon,
Ray, of...
We need Rose parades.
We need 4th of July parades.
We need to walk around and tellpeople how awesome we are.
And this is just it on steroids.
And we want to do more of this.
(13:19):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (13:20):
I talk often about if, if the tournament roses
parade was the only thing rotarydid to promote itself, it
wouldn't be worth doing.
It's got to be in conjunctionwith everything else from, from
wearing your, your rotary pinto, And like you said, talking
about rotary, it's an easyconversation to have once you're
comfortable with it.
(13:41):
My rotary club did a readingproject for the local elementary
schools.
That's an easy conversation tohave.
That's what I did.
I did something like that.
And it's not a conversationoften that people are very
comfortable in starting.
So, for example, if a rotaryclub were to come out and help
(14:04):
decorate the float, or send acontribution, you know, to help
pay for the, you know, thehardware that we need.
That's a conversation starter.
You know, what my Rotary Club'sdoing?
One of the things we're doing iswe're trying to expand our
reach.
We're trying to reach out tomore people.
We're trying to let people knowwhat great work Rotary does.
(14:26):
And that's an easy conversation.
Oh, okay, you know, tell memore.
Tell me more.
That's what you want to hear.
And...
If you look at some of the otherorganizations that are involved
in the Rose Parade, like Lionsand Kiwanis and City of Hope,
Odd Fellows and Rebecca's,there's another organization.
(14:47):
The actual organization iscalled One Legacy, but their
program is Donate Life.
And they've had a float foryears.
And they're all examples of waysto reach out to expand the
knowledge that people may haveabout whatever your cause is.
And our cause is service andtaking care of the communities
(15:09):
that we're in.
And this is a way to help withthat.
Like I said, it's not the onlyway.
Clubs, zones, districts, they'vegot to do other stuff, whatever
it may be, whatever they'recomfortable.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
So let's get back to the float itself, because I
couldn't agree with you more.
I think things like this thatthat I think Rotary has a nasty
habit of not bragging aboutthemselves.
I am biased.
Like I said, I have loved thisparade for years.
It was an institution in myfamily to watch it.
(15:46):
But let's get back to the floatitself.
Because you said that you startthis design process in January.
So we are recording this inmid-July.
So you are in it.
one would think, and the newdesign is definitely out.
Did you honestly say that youjust kind of go into these
builders with this dream?
(16:07):
And so are these builders thenlooking at you saying, because
two things have to happen.
Your design has to be organicand doesn't it have to drive
down a road for what, threemiles?
So it has to move and beorganic.
So as some of your projectschange, gone to some of these
(16:27):
builders and they have said, no.
SPEAKER_00 (16:31):
Well, honestly, yes.
That's true.
They have.
If we try to slant the messageand make it too fine-tuned, then
they'll say, this isn't going towork.
The best hope we have is thatthis thing is absolutely
gorgeous, stunningly gorgeous,and it can be gorgeous in a
(16:54):
whimsical way, Most of ourfloats over the last 46 years
have been somewhat whimsical.
Okay.
Teddy bears, and we had a bunnyone year, planting a garden.
And that works really well.
People love it.
It's beautiful to look at.
There's a lot of detail, sopeople on the parade route are
(17:16):
excited to see this.
It plays real well on TV.
The commentators talk about whatgoes into making the float.
And If it's too complicated oryou're trying to get a message
across, it confuses people andconfused people are not what we
want.
You know, we want people wholove this.
(17:36):
They look at it, they go, wow,that that's, that's
unbelievable.
Look at this part, look at thatpart.
You know, if we have someanimation, if it's appropriate,
you know, that always draws alot of attention.
Our, our riders and walkers, youknow, we'll be waving and happy
new year from rotary and thecrowd responds to that stuff.
And it's, The last thing in theworld you want is somebody to
(17:59):
say, look, you know, my brain isscrambled on this.
It's New Year's morning, youknow, in Pasadena and look away,
you know, because we want that,you know, brought to you by
rotary.
SPEAKER_02 (18:11):
You want those nearly 30 million people looking
at that float, simple messagefast, because for all those
people on TV, they might see itfor five, six minutes compared
to the thousands that are goingto see it the whole parade
route.
But fast, simple, and not breakdown.
SPEAKER_01 (18:32):
Oh, you don't want to break down.
SPEAKER_02 (18:35):
You don't want to break down.
I keep saying this word, organicmaterials.
How much of this float, besidesits structure, I mean, come on,
we have to be able, they knowthat wood has to make the
structure, which arguably isorganic.
But how much of the float has toactually be organic?
flowers, grasses, seeds, etcetera?
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
The entire float needs to be covered with organic
plant material.
So everything.
That can include seeds,everything.
There's a, you know, youmentioned you don't want to
break down.
There's a trailer hitch.
In case of a breakdown, there isa trailer hitch.
And even the trailer hitch hasto be covered with something
organic, whether it's coffee orpepper, you know, something.
(19:24):
So the entire visible...
Now, there are some exceptions.
Okay.
People always call me on this.
They say, well, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
I mean, the engine is not going to...
The carburetor in the engine isnot organic.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
No, it's just carbon.
Just everything that you cansee.
There are exceptions.
They put an antique truck on afarmer's...
float one year.
And they didn't have to coverthat.
They had a big electronicscreen, like a 200-foot
electronic screen.
And it probably wasn't 200 feet,but...
(19:55):
It
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
was really super big.
SPEAKER_00 (19:58):
Okay.
There are exceptions to theeverything has to be covered
with organic materials.
But that's all handled by thetournament and the builders.
And everything underneath is,you know, it's a truck chassis.
So it's...
And these...
Trucks, they don't get a lot ofmiles put on them, so they last
for years and years.
So it's like depending on thesize of the float, the size of a
(20:20):
truck.
Some of these are pretty bigtruck chassis, and they drive.
One really interesting point isthat generally speaking, the
person that's actually driving,that's on the gear shift and the
steering wheel, generally can'tsee out.
So there's two things thathappen.
(20:42):
Number one, they cut a hole inthe floor so that the person can
look down at the ground.
And then there's a rose coloredline that's painted all along
the five and a half mile paraderoute.
And so they know left or right,you know, I've got to keep that
line.
You've got
SPEAKER_02 (21:00):
to follow that
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
line
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
that's
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
in the bottom of your float.
Sure.
And then there's a spotter.
That sits up in the front, notoutside, but in the front looks
through a screen and kind oftells him, OK, slow down.
You know, you're getting tooclose.
Slow down or speed up.
SPEAKER_02 (21:15):
Yeah, because that was my next question.
What if what if a kid runsacross the thing or there's or
the whole parade is held upbecause of something?
That's what the spotter does.
That's what the spotter does.
Yeah.
Safety
SPEAKER_00 (21:27):
is so important.
The tournament was a wonderfuljob.
When we're building this thing,we have to go through three
different safety tests.
And one of them is, can weevacuate all the participants
off the float in 45 seconds orless?
Wow.
Safety is very, very important.
SPEAKER_02 (21:46):
So there's twice now you've talked about, and we're
going to go back to how everydayRotarians can be a part of
actually either making,contributing to, or riding on
this float.
You did mention riders on thefloat.
And I know for the past quite afew years, it has been the
(22:06):
Rotary International President.
So I know you are notnecessarily affiliated with
Rotary, but Rotary actually mustreally love this because You
have the Rotary, this is one ofthe trademarks of the Rotary
year for the Rotary president isto be on this float.
(22:28):
And how many years has ourpresident been on the float?
SPEAKER_00 (22:32):
I'm not sure, but it's become a tradition.
And once it started, we alwayshad some riders and or walkers
involved with the float.
But once the president startedriding, it became a tradition
and that's not likely to getbroken.
SPEAKER_02 (22:49):
And it's fun.
I mean, I think it's great thatespecially the year friend of
the show, Jennifer Jones, wasthere because that also added
the fact that she was our firstfemale Rotary International
president.
And of course, Stephanie, yourchick followed in her places
this this past year.
But we have a new president fromItaly, Francisco, and he hadn't
(23:16):
heard of the parade.
And I'm here to tell you.
He's excited to ride on hisfloat.
I'm letting
SPEAKER_01 (23:21):
you know.
SPEAKER_00 (23:23):
I think they have a really good time.
Whatever concepts that peoplehave about a parade, we've all
seen small town USA parades.
This is different.
This is radically different.
This is a big multinationalevent.
(23:43):
People come from all over theworld to participate, to help.
You know, put the floats in.
Organizations come fromeverywhere.
So it's a much bigger deal, Ithink, once an RI president gets
here and sees what goes intothis.
It's an eye-opener.
It really is.
SPEAKER_02 (24:03):
And we have very lovely RI presidents that I am
sure, when they see this ontheir calendar, are like, I'm
going to be in a parade?
Okay.
And I'm sure it is rather agobsmacked idea.
But you also said there's someother people that are waving on
the float as well as walkers.
(24:26):
Who are those people?
Let's say I want to be a rideron a Rose Bowl float.
Is that a possibility for aquote unquote everyday Rotarian?
How do you do that?
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
Absolutely.
So we'll start at the topbecause that's the rider spot.
It's a$10,000 contribution tothe float committee.
to ride, and that secures you aspot.
We have anywhere from maybe sixto eight available spots.
Of course, the president's takenup by a spot.
SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
Yeah, you can't kick he or she off of that one.
Okay.
All right.
Whatever.
SPEAKER_00 (25:03):
I'm going to get to ambassadorships in a little
while.
Okay.
We offer that as a sponsorshiplevel, and one ambassador from
all the ambassadors gets...
chosen out of a bucket toactually ride on the float.
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
Okay, so you have one going to the international
president.
Two to the president.
Two to the president.
So president plus one, okay,gets to ride on the float.
And then you have an ambassadorof picking out of a bucket.
So that's a prized spot, a spotthat's given away.
So that's three spots.
You said there's like eight ornine spots.
Who else gets the other five orso?
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
So we'll make an attempt to sell those.
Oh, OK.
Ten thousand dollars.
We've had people that just loveto do this.
And one person's written, Ithink, four times.
I think she brought her husbandone time and I think she paid
for a friend one time.
So she just loves it.
She just thinks this is thegreatest thing ever.
And some people don't reallyknow about that.
SPEAKER_02 (26:03):
Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think a lot of
people know about it.
UNKNOWN (26:07):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (26:07):
It's for select people, people that really have
it as an item that they want todo.
And it's always a greatexperience.
People always come back with,you know, this is something I
had no real idea what to expect.
When you turn the corner, theparade kicks off at the corner
(26:28):
of Orange Grove and ColoradoBoulevard.
Yeah.
And that's the traditional startis that right-hand turn onto the
parade route.
It's about a mile downhill.
Okay.
And then a little bit of flatand then a mile uphill.
And that whole entire bowl isfilled with people.
There's 700,000 people on theparade route every year.
(26:51):
And it's just, you know, it'san, oh, wow moment.
You know, it's early, generallyearly in the morning.
You know, it's fresh.
It's a new year.
It's just so exciting to be outthere as a, you know, as a
participant.
And people just don't know.
You know, the presidents comeback and say, wow, you know,
nothing could have prepared mefor what I was about to
SPEAKER_02 (27:12):
see.
It's funny because there'smulti-layers to this interview.
Of course, we're talking rightnow about people riding the
float, but if all my listenersremember, Ray just said a little
while ago that the man or womanwho is driving this float is
following a little rose-coloredline.
(27:32):
What you've just told us is thisspotter and this blind driver
literally take a right godownhill to a flat part and then
uphill.
Is that right?
That's right.
700,000 people watching them andwe hope the float makes it.
I'm sorry.
(27:52):
It's my humor.
I assume we have never brokendown, right?
Just for the record.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
I believe that we have broken down, but we've
never broken down early.
Okay.
Our breakdown occurred after theTV cameras.
SPEAKER_01 (28:09):
The
SPEAKER_00 (28:10):
worst thing you can have is to be towed into view of
the TV.
Of the
SPEAKER_02 (28:13):
TV cameras.
We're Rotarians, so we adapt.
We could just get on the backand push it the rest of the way.
We would have done it.
That could happen.
We're over a million strong.
So those are the people that areriding, so you can pay for those
spots.
But friend of the show andfriend of mine, Tom Gump, I've
seen a couple times walkingbeside the float.
(28:35):
You can also walk as well asride?
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (28:39):
Yeah, this year we have 16 Walker spots.
Okay.
And five of those are reservedfor Southern California and
Nevada districts that have beenstaunch supporters.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (28:52):
wow.
Okay.
Yeah, they contribute a lot ofmoney.
The other spots will be filledwith people who contribute
$7,500.
And that's kind of a buy it now.
SPEAKER_02 (29:06):
Okay.
So humor me.
So it's$5,000 to ride on theboat, float, excuse me.
It's$5,000 to ride on the float.
$10,000.
Oh, thank you.
Okay.
I was like, wait a minute, I cansit down?
And I was like, wait a minute, Ican sit down for less?
(29:29):
But you do get the exercise ofwalking.
So, and may I add, if you dowalk, you get In my opinion, one
of the coolest rotary swags thatwe have, and that is the Rotary
Rose Parade hat and jacket andother stuff that you guys sell
(29:52):
that goes with the whole thing.
And they're bright red, which Iknow is not a traditional rotary
color, but go check them outbecause that's something you can
get as well.
Is that true?
That's
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
right.
Yeah, we've got a lot of stuffavailable for sale on the
website.
Patches and pins, the jacketsavailable, some shirts, hats.
There's a lot of
SPEAKER_02 (30:11):
stuff.
So you can ride it for free ifyou're Rotary International
president.
You can pay$10,000 and ride onthe float.
You can pay$7,500 and walk.
So that's already a lot ofmoney.
How much does a float like thiscost?
SPEAKER_00 (30:31):
The float itself for this year is about$180,000.
And that's to build it, test it,you know, make sure, you know,
that's our price to thecontractor to actually build
that, drive it, you know, makesure it's safe.
So the average float in the RoseParade is about$300,000 in cost.
SPEAKER_02 (30:56):
So why is ours so cheap?
Well...
It's supposed to say that we'rea nonprofit service organization
and we want to, you know,
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
no, that, that, that is true.
But, but this is when you lookat the value and we talked about
that just briefly earlier, whenyou look at the value, there's
a, there's a tournament puts outa earned media equivalent.
Right.
Number.
And that's, that's about, Ithink it's$265 million.
(31:28):
Right.
which means that somebody wouldneed to pay$265 million to get
the exposure that the RoseParade gets.
Wow.
And that's a large number.
So you divide that up by 40floats and some equestrian units
and bands and stuff.
And that's where the value comesin because nobody's spending
(31:51):
that kind of money.
No.
We're raising the money to dothis project.
you know, through these WalkerRiders, some corporate sponsors,
stuff like that, clubcontributions.
We'll send out a letter to clubsasking them for a small
contribution.
And that works out really well.
But add up all of what is spent.
(32:13):
It's nowhere near the value.
And that's really what makes ita really good value.
It's a great value proposition.
We're hoping to get up to a fewminutes in front of the TV
cameras and a little bit of talkabout what Rotary does.
(32:34):
The commentators will getscripts, and some of it includes
what the flowers are and stufflike that.
Certain networks focus more onthat.
Other networks focus more on theservice organization itself.
And then you've mentionedbreakdowns a few times.
We don't ever want to breakdown.
(32:55):
But one year, somebody, a coupleof floats ahead of us, broke
down.
So we were stopped there forlike, I think something like 10
or 12 minutes.
And I'm sure they must have beenscrambling.
Somebody Google what does Rotarydo?
Because they really covered itin depth.
So...
So breakdowns can be positive.
(33:17):
Yeah, for
SPEAKER_02 (33:18):
some people.
But if somebody's going to breakdown, have them be with us on
the television screen.
SPEAKER_00 (33:23):
That's right.
Yeah, we want them close so thatwe can get a little extra time.
SPEAKER_02 (33:27):
So I know that this podcast for some folks has
turned into Marketing 101, but Ido share the last 30 plus years
of my life with a publicist.
And so marketing and publicityis something that this house
understands.
But I'm sure, just to play thedevil's advocate, there's some
(33:48):
people that are going$100,000.
That's a lot of books.
You mentioned that you did aproject about books.
That's a lot of polio plusmoney.
That's a lot of Paul Harrismoney.
That's a lot of...
How do you get the averageperson to understand the value
(34:09):
of of marketing the value ofsomething like this?
How do you get them tounderstand that?
Because I'm sure there's peoplelistening to this going, Gwen,
sounds like a lot of fun.
I love a good parade, but comeon.
That's a lot of money for this.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
How do you help them understand?
And sometimes people are notgoing to understand if...
Service projects are in yourheart and you would do anything
to create a service project.
And maybe you pay for it out ofyour own pocket.
You're probably not going tounderstand the value of
marketing.
Okay.
(34:46):
Every Rotary club and everyRotary district will lose every
member it ever had.
if you're around for a hundredyears, your club is around, my
club's coming up on a hundredyears.
We don't have any foundingmembers.
There's nobody, no, no originalmember.
SPEAKER_02 (35:04):
If there was, that's a podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (35:10):
So, so organizations, all
organizations, even commercialentities, they've got to
replace, you know, customersthat move on or, or right.
Tarians that move on donors thatmove on.
And without, properly runbranding and marketing, and if
you will, advertising, there'sno way to get the word out about
(35:34):
enough, effectively enough, tohave new members say, hey, that
sounds like something I'd liketo be interested in.
And that's the first step.
And for us, we believe, and alot of nonprofits believe, if
you remember the little listthat i gave earlier there's a
lot of non-profits that are inthe parade you know they
(35:57):
wouldn't be doing it all thosepeople wouldn't be doing it just
because they're following theleader like rotary and and
saying oh rotary does it we weshould do it you know it's uh
it's working and it's it's agreat way to introduce like
people that come out and anddecorate and maybe interact
clubs from the local area.
People come from far away.
(36:18):
We've had foreign exchangestudents and ambassadorial
scholars.
So it's a wide-reaching event isthe Rose Parade.
And being involved in that is away of advertising or talking
about what it is that Rotarydoes and how we do it.
(36:40):
And this particular thing isjust fun.
People love it.
They come out.
You can see when the decoratorsget there that maybe there's
some Interact kids, 30 Interactkids from a school.
And they're like, oh, I got toput my phone away?
Oh, man, what are you talkingabout?
And an hour into this thing.
(37:03):
They've made new friends.
They're talking about stuff.
They're maybe laying on theirback, gluing seeds to the bottom
of some animal.
And it's just fun to see that.
You know, there's kids workingtogether.
They're always adultsupervisors, and they're taking
their time.
And that's what really,ultimately, what Rotary is all
(37:25):
about.
It's creating that sense ofcommunity.
And the sense of communityaround our flow is just
enormous.
And it's a good value.
The value proposition issomething that, you know,
somebody that says, I'd rathergive a pair of sneakers to a kid
that needs them than$100 to thefloat committee.
(37:47):
They don't understand the valuethat comes out of this.
And you need to do both.
You know, we can't just build afloat and say, hey, we're great.
SPEAKER_02 (37:58):
You still need$100 for the
SPEAKER_00 (38:00):
pair of shoes.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:02):
So...
So we've kind of covered a lotof stuff, everything from
following rose-colored lines towe don't break down to this
whole thing started off inJanuary to$10,000 level,$7,500
level to what you just dabbledin this last time is that at the
(38:23):
end of this whole thing, thisfloat is decorated by Rotarians
just like you and me.
And if...
Somebody wants to decorate afloat in the Rose Bowl Parade.
Is that something, Ray, thatyou'd be happy to have Rotarians
come and join you and help?
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (38:42):
we'd be thrilled.
We'd be thrilled.
Okay.
Starting in December, onSaturdays in December up until
Christmas, there's drydecorating that goes on.
We've got 16 hours a day.
Oh, my gosh.
40-person shifts to fill.
Wow.
So dry things.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
So you're talking about like seeds or grasses or
things that can last 30 days andstill look good.
Is that
SPEAKER_00 (39:08):
right?
Exactly.
One of the things, thecreativity that goes into this,
you know, anybody that comes outto decorate is going to see
this.
If they need a particular colorand it's not available on flour,
they'll cut petals off of floursand put them in a food processor
and blend that thing up to makea specific color.
And it's just amazing thecreativity that goes into how to
(39:33):
cover everything with organicmaterial and get the colors that
you want.
SPEAKER_02 (39:38):
Wow.
Okay.
So starting in December, anyRotarian from around the world
who is listening to my voice orinteractor or Rotaractor who is
listening to my voice.
And by the way, they can go tothe website, I assume, to
volunteer.
SPEAKER_00 (39:53):
Is that correct?
Okay.
Decorator signups will start the1st.
The first Saturday in September.
In September.
SPEAKER_02 (40:00):
So in September, you're going to start decorating
this thing.
Sign up.
Sign up.
Excuse me.
Sign ups are in September.
In December, you actually startdecorating this thing with
Rotarians from all over theworld and right down the street.
And then Christmas Day.
(40:22):
And then that week betweenChristmas and New Year's.
Is that...
just insanity?
And how many volunteers do youhave working in that place?
Because that would be crunchtime, is it not?
SPEAKER_00 (40:34):
It is.
It absolutely is.
So Christmas, nothing.
Everybody gets the day off.
Everybody gets the day off.
Okay.
The 26th, different story.
So the volunteers will come in,and that's when a crew chief
from Phoenix Decorating, that'sour builder, crew chief is
responsible for setting upteams, what they're going to do,
(40:57):
how they're going to do it,inspecting the work.
And that's really when thisstuff starts.
And there's two shifts.
There's a morning shift, 8o'clock start, and an afternoon
shift, a 4 o'clock start.
So, yeah, there's plenty ofopportunity.
And then there's different–Different jobs for different
(41:17):
skill levels.
Some of this stuff, you know,because the floats are so high.
They're 20 feet high.
Some of the stuff is done onscaffolding.
So you've got to be comfortablewith heights.
Okay.
And then sometimes people arebetter at the– Maybe one year, I
remember we had a crocodile, andthe crocodile needed to look
(41:37):
realistic, so they cut Brusselssprouts in half and glued
Brussels sprouts on that.
I'm telling you, the creativity,it's astonishing.
It's just fun to go out thereand watch.
What are they going to do today?
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Benji's the same way again.
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (41:51):
it's
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
fun.
SPEAKER_02 (41:52):
Oh, my God.
So anybody can be a part of it.
Volunteering sign-up starts inSeptember.
You can write on it.
You can walk.
It is a way to market.
It is a way to tell the worldabout us.
Oh, I know I had one question.
Is it always based on the themeof the year?
(42:14):
I know we don't technically havethemes, but you know what I'm
saying?
Like right now we are, as we'rerecording this, it's united for
good.
Do we, does the, does the floatalways echo that?
Or are you guys, are you guysyour own independent thing?
Yeah.
We do
SPEAKER_00 (42:30):
try to tie it to that to get that extra push.
And that's kind of more theinternal message.
So anytime you've got a brandingand marketing thing, you've got
the internal message talking tothe company, the people that
work there, their customers.
And then you've got the externalmessage, which is talking to
everybody.
Right.
(42:51):
So we want it to be universal.
And Unite for Good is sopowerful.
That's just such a great theme.
And that's actually the name ofour float this year.
The theme of the name is Unitefor Good.
We also try and have the walkersand riders have been involved
with some sort of a rotary areaof focus.
(43:15):
So when we put this up onFacebook and on our website, you
know, we can talk about youknow, this was, this was a, you
know, if the float lends itself,we had a water well one year.
So, so water was obvious that,you know, so, so we had people
that had done water projectsaround the world and they kind
(43:35):
of focused on that in theirsocial media interviews and, and
interviews for our website.
SPEAKER_02 (43:44):
So on a, personal level.
And I thank you so much for, forRay, for, for being on the show,
for reminding us again, I knowthis kind of, this particular
interview went down more of a,of a marketing turn, but I, I
actually agree with you.
I think we don't, we don't dressup and have fun and go tell
(44:05):
people about Rotary.
And I think this Rose Bowlparade is a, excuse me, Rose
parade.
Oh, and I was being so good upto that point.
that this Rose Parade is one ofthose marvelous things.
But what do you get out of it,personally?
I mean, you're obviously, it'sright down the street from you.
(44:26):
You live in this area.
This is part of your traditionof Rotary.
What do you personally get outof doing the Rose Parade?
SPEAKER_00 (44:38):
Well, that's a great question, Wynne.
I like it because there's somany facets to it and it's not
something that you get everyday.
You know, I get it every daybecause this is the main thing
that I work on and I work on itall year.
But I enjoy the various aspectsof this, like the design,
(44:59):
working with the designcommittee, working with the
builder.
And I think it's a remarkableway to tell the world that in a
very soft way that we're hereand we're going to be here for a
long time.
And if you've got a heart forservice, take a look.
And that means a lot to mepersonally, is to be able to
(45:22):
bring a message like that topeople.
New Year's Day is very special.
It's a new beginning.
And it's, you know, there's...
generally a great deal ofoptimism and hope.
And I love that aspect of it.
And I think that when you seethat pride of ownership, Rotary
pride of ownership in that floatthat you've had something to do
(45:42):
with all year, it's justremarkable to me.
If I could, I'd like to touch onanother point that's really
important to me.
And that is the RotaryInternational hosts a summit
surrounding the parade withLyons, Optimus, and Kiwanis, and
obviously, and the presidentsfrom those organizations get
(46:05):
together, and they get abreakfast with their committees,
and then they go away, and theytalk about private things,
whatever, you know, I can onlyimagine.
I'm, you know, way above, but Ican tell you that for years, for
for over 46 years.
(46:26):
This summit's been taking place,and the power that goes into
these organizations, it's notjust Rotary, but Lions,
Optimists, and Kiwanis, billionsof dollars in foundation assets
and millions of people that havea heart for service that want to
go out to the world and dostuff.
(46:48):
And what the presidents wouldoften talk about in years past
was, yeah, you know, you'reright.
This is too big to let go.
And obviously the program needsto be, and you get four
different answers.
You know, Rotary would say,well, we're this close to polio.
(47:08):
You know, we got to finish that.
Right.
Everybody had their own littlepet project, if you will, that
was unique to themselves, right?
And what happened a few yearsago was Mark Maloney, one of the
past Rotaries.
Yeah, past president.
It's been a friend of the show.
(47:28):
Yes.
Said, I'm not going to do itthat way.
What I want to do is I wanteverybody right now to get your
calendar out and let's find adate that we can meet.
We're going to host this meetingin Evanston.
And I want you to bring not onlyyourselves, but I want you to
bring friends.
your president-elect or whateveryou call them, and I want you to
(47:50):
bring your top program person,whoever's hands-on steering
that, you know, the programaspect of your organizations.
And they met in Evanston, andthat was just before COVID hit.
And they had a wholeinfrastructure in place,
agreements and a wholeinfrastructure in place about
how to cooperate with eachother.
And it made a giganticdifference to the– you know,
(48:14):
lots and lots of people.
And again, this wasn't somethingthat got national or
international attention.
It was done because it was theright thing to do.
And since then, they'veorganized, you know, a day of
service, a week of service.
They've really done an excellentjob of how to bring these four
(48:35):
organizations together tocollaborate for the good of
society.
And that to me, that's just soheartwarming.
I love having been a part ofSomething like that.
And the Rose Parade made thathappen.
I mean,
SPEAKER_02 (48:48):
is that-
SPEAKER_00 (48:48):
If it weren't for the Rose Parade, that wouldn't
have happened.
You're absolutely right.
SPEAKER_02 (48:53):
Yeah.
Isn't that funny?
So, wow.
I couldn't think of a better wayto wrap things up.
So it's been around since 1980,an official float, that is.
It is the Rose Parade orTournament of Roses Parade.
Tensao, you can write on it.
(49:14):
75, you can walk next to it.
You can sprinkle seeds on it.
You can give if you want to orbuy a hat on the website if
you'd be so kind.
And Ray Bushnell, did I coverjust about all of it?
SPEAKER_00 (49:31):
I think you covered just about all of it.
One thing that I'd like to addis that ambassadorship thing
that we talked about a littlebit earlier.
Please.
That's$500 to become anambassador, and the expectation
is that you'll help us promote.
You'll help us promote in yourclub, in your district, maybe at
your zones, stuff like that.
We've got special ambassadormeetings, and there's some
(49:53):
special swag that ambassadorsget that nobody else gets, and
that opportunity for oneambassador.
to be drawn out and get to ridethe float.
SPEAKER_02 (50:07):
All right, 500 bucks and you're an ambassador.
500, yeah.
May have to think about that.
I know of a podcast or two.
Ray, thank you so much fortalking to me about a beloved
part of my childhood and that Istill get up.
I don't have to get up as earlynow to watch it on the East
Coast, I have to admit.
(50:27):
I would also recommend Rotariansto go look up the Rotary Rose
Parade.
All past years are up there.
It's got great pictures andmaybe throw out an idea of a of
a trip to Pasadena, California.
It's a pretty cool place.
(50:48):
Absolutely, it is.
One of my favorite cities.
Ray, thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
Well, thank you, Gwen.
Thanks for all you do, andyou've got a heart for promoting
Rotary out there, and so I thinkit's kind of a synergy there
between us.
I want to thank you for havingme on.
It's been an honor.
SPEAKER_02 (51:07):
Well, thank you, and I look forward to seeing that
float, if not in person.
UNKNOWN (51:13):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (51:13):
Let me know if you're coming out this
SPEAKER_02 (51:16):
way.
UNKNOWN (51:16):
I would.
SPEAKER_02 (51:18):
I promise, Ray, I will let you know.
I'm still trying to likecoordinate everything.
And what do you guys think?
What if I did a live podcastfrom the gluing of the seeds and
the putting down of the petals?
I think it would be a lot offun.
Of course, that might have to bea video podcast because I don't
(51:39):
think sticking seeds down would,you know, through the ears make
a lot of sense.
But who knows?
Thank you again, Ray.
And hey, clubs, check it out.
The Tournament of Roses Parade,January 1st for many more years
to come.
And I hope to see a rotary floatthere as well.
(52:00):
Well, hey, as usual, at the endof the show, I have a little bit
of business.
If you know someone who'sturning their actions into
impact locally, globally,anywhere in the world, please
let me know.
The email has not changed, eventhough the name has.
RotarianPod at gmail.com and ifyou're liking the show do tell a
(52:24):
friend you can get the podcastwherever you get your podcasts
and every time you listen to itit makes it easier for others to
find us alrighty then until nextweek take care of yourself and
the world around you and we'llhear you next time on the Action
to Impact podcast have awonderful week everybody we'll
(52:47):
talk to you soon Thank you.
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