For the Eaton and Palisades fire survivors on the “Rising Together” float, a wet and cold ride down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day was a one-of-a-kind experience.
“After all we’ve been through this year, a torrential rainstorm felt like nothing,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. “If anything, it was a reminder that we are still here. And somewhere along the way, we are becoming tough as nails.”
The float from the California Community Foundation and Black Freedom Fund won the Fantasy Award for imagination in the 137th Rose Parade. It featured a red and orange-colored phoenix mid-ascent, surrounded by roses bearing the names of those lost to the fire, written by their loved ones.
Chen told network members Friday that what met her on the parade route wasn’t so much rain, but an outpouring of love. It’s a visible sense of community that this year’s crop of Rose Parade float riders said they will take with them into the new year and beyond.
“As soon as they saw our float, and us survivors, they jumped to their feet,” Chen said of the crowd. “Some burst into tears. That made me burst into tears too.”
Fellow Eaton fire survivor Andrew King, who rode on the float, agreed.
The core memory he will take with him into the new year is a physical feeling of community, a tangible tug of connection, waving that “Altadena” flag at the crowd and having people wave back at him.
“Between the camaraderie among everyone on the float and the feeling of being seen by so many, it was a really great experience,” King said.
Gina Clayton-Johnson, who lost two family homes in the Eaton fire, and all the memories contained in it, said the experience of riding in the parade was a chance to make a new, heart-lightening memory.
“This parade has been the backdrop of my childhood and now a tradition I get to share with my children,” she said.
Carlos Marroquin, national director for Food for Health programs, was one of nine riders on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s “Food for Health” float, celebrating a program that serves more than 500,000 people weekly through food pantries and farmers’ markets across the country.
It was only when the Jack and the Beanstalk-inspired float started turning into Colorado Boulevard from Orange Grove Avenue that the uninvited guest, rain, made itself known, Marroquin said.
“When it started raining hard, we were already going down the slope and at that moment, the crowd is there and you just felt that connection between us and them,” he said. “If anyone needs to be applauded, it’s the people who showed up to see the floats. It was like we were supporting each other.”
Getting to ride alongside his heroes was an honor and a blessing: from Capt. Thomas Kitahata of the Los Angeles Fire Department, to Christy and Janet Lee, sisters who own Fair Oaks Burger in Altadena “two sisters who lost their home in the Eaton fire and used their business to help others,” Marroquin said, all the riders represent thousands of people who love their communities and are worried about people who don’t have access to food.
Then there was organized- labor pioneer Dolores Huerta, 95. When Marroquin gave her a chance to bow out of riding the float because of the miserable weather, “she pretty much said, ‘I didn’t drive here from Victorville just to go back. I’m here to support your efforts.”
Huerta threw kisses and waved at an adoring crowd, many of whom got out of their seats to try and shake her hand and take photos, he added.
“She refused my offer of an umbrella because she wanted people to be able to see her and she wanted to see the public too,” Marroquin said. “What a lady. Such an inspiration.”
Connecting, being able to share a smile or return a wave is important in these embattled times, he added.
“My heart is full because I saw a lot of people out there that the rain didn’t stop,” Marroquin said. “We need that. We need to keep moving forward and don’t let anything stop us from being community.”
OneLegacy Donate Life’s float “Treasure Every Moment Together” from Artistic Entertainment Services featured Elsa Garcia-Chau, 61, of Artesia, riding on a floral-bedecked five-person canoe with a giant treasure chest and hornbill birds.
The retired schoolteacher became a heart transplant recipient almost three years ago and is a OneLegacy ambassador advocating for people to register to become an organ donor.
Like many other float riders, the most significant memory of her singular New Year’s Day was making connections.
“Aside from some of my family watching the parade, they’re all strangers, right?” Garcia-Chau said. “I was looking up into the stands, into apartments, and my thing was to blow them a kiss. I know they saw me when they returned it, like ‘You saw me!’ That smile comes. I would greet some of them, ‘Feliz año nuevo,’ and they say it back, hand on their hearts, puff out their chests. That was beautiful.”
Lonnie Melendrez, a junior at Dominguez High School, said his turn on The UPS Store float, representing the Junior Achievement program, is now fodder for the future, that he could look back and remember riding on a float as a kid and eventually share that special experience with his future children.
The UPS Store’s 2026 float, “Sharing Skills for Success,” featuring a giant seahorse, won the Director’s Trophy for artistic design, and set a Guinness World Record for largest animatronic fish.
The 2026 Rose Court on the Tournament of Roses float, clear ponchos over their gowns, saw proof of one thing on their ride down Colorado Boulevard.
“Seeing how many people still showed up despite the rain, it really showed how much the parade and the Pasadena community mean to people,” said Princess Keiko Rakin of Alhambra High School. Recognizing her family and teachers along the route, “that was the moment I felt the most happiness. I almost cried, but I knew TV Corner was coming up, so I had to hold it together.”
Driving past their favorite Pasadena restaurants and spots, as well as places they visited in the months following their selection into the Rose Court made the ride down a full circle moment for Princess Livia de Paula of Temple City.
For Serena Guo, the 107th Rose Queen, the eyes had it all along the parade route.
“The people is what I will remember most about it,” she said. “Even though we were a little higher up from the road, it still felt like I was making eye contact and a brief personal connection with each person I was waving to. I’d like to think I had a moment with every person on that route, whether it was a mouthed ‘Happy New Year,’ a special wave between the two of us, or a moment of excitement when we made eye contact.”
Seeing a wave of orange and knowing it was the Caltech contingent cheering for her underlined the meaning of “community” for Princess Riya Gupta, a freshman at the storied university.
The moment showed her how the Rose Parade brings people together, she said.
Engaging with the parade’s youngest attendees was a highlight, all the princesses said, as they blew kisses or made hand hearts that were excitedly or shyly returned.
“I’ll remember the look each child had when we waved at them,” said Princess Sophia Ren of Arcadia. “Whenever we would wave at them or do a special gesture, they would get so excited. I hope those moments inspire them to try out for court.”
For heart recipient Garcia-Chau, as someone who first underwent the pain of living with heart disease, waiting for a miracle, getting it, and now dealing with the medicines and procedures post-transplant, the rain only added a new dimension to her Rose Parade experience.
“It made it more memorable,” Garcia-Chau said. “It’s a celebration, one big jolt of ‘Wow!’ Seeing the little kids, the grandmas. It makes me think, this is the human experience. All of it: the heartwarming feeling out there in the parade, being wet in the rain and still being troopers, the gratitude I feel for parents when they’re given that news about their child and choosing to make things better for someone else. All of it. And I’m still here.”