Cal Poly students pack up Rose Parade float to transport to Pomona
Cal Poly students packed up their portion of the school’s Tournament of Roses Parade float Thursday afternoon.
The still-under-construction float is now on its way to Southern California, where it will soon be combined with the other half that is being made at Cal Poly Pomona.
For several minutes, students with the float team carefully loaded the chassis onto a semi-truck trailer.
After several fits-and-starts, it was placed safely onto the flatbed of the truck, so it can be transported 216 miles south to the Cal Poly Pomona campus.
Once there, students from both universities will spend the next 11 weekends putting the float together in time for the annual New Year’s Day event.
“What’s really exciting about the next phase is that we’re bringing everything down to Pomona, and we’ll be in those phases where we’ll start seeing the float really come together,” said Cal Poly Rose Float team president Sydney Strong. “You actually get to see that framework that looks like it could be a float in the next coming weekends.”
This year’s float is called, “Aquatic Aspirations.”
According to Cal Poly release, it will feature a submarine navigating above a sunken shipwreck that has become home to colorful marine wildlife.
The float will rise 30 feet above the ground and include a 9-foot-tall sub will hover above a moving kelp forest.
This marks the 72nd straight year students from both schools will combine efforts to build a Rose Parade float.
“I think it’s really cool that we have all of these teammates that we’re able to work with from another university,” said Strong. “I think that’s something that’s really special is uniting two different universities and getting a lot of different perspectives and working together to make one big project.”
Over the years, Cal Poly has won 57 awards including the prestigious Extraordinaire Award this year for its space-themed entry “Far Out Frequencies.”
For more information on the Cal Poly Rose Float click here.
KEYT 2019
