Cal Poly reveals 2023 Rose Float design: The Road to Reclamation

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - Cal Poly Rose Float revealed its 2023 Pasadena Rose Parade float design: "Road to Reclamation."

The theme for next year's Tournament of Roses is "Turning the Corner," which organizers said symbolizes the positive change and unlimited potential that each new year can bring.

Cal Poly said that its rose float "Road to Reclamation" will demonstrate that a new start can come from unlikely places by transforming a dead tree branch into a catalyst for new life.

Organizers said that the Cal Poly entry will be 23 feet tall and will feature a colorful forest floor of giant snails, mushrooms and fungi upon a fallen tree branch.

"A nurse log serves as a vital part of a forest ecosystem," said Annie Doody, Cal Poly Rose Float president. "It serves as the basis of a new environment as a community comes together to create something new."

Mechanical engineering student Benjamino Cruz, the Cal Poly team's construction chair, submitted the original concept for "Road to Reclamation."

The Cal Poly Rose Float team consists of members from both Cal Poly in SLO and Cal Poly in Pomona.

"To jointly build a float at two universities separated by 230 miles, the float’s chassis base is in two pieces," said organizers. "Students in Pomona are working on the front half, while the Cal Poly crews focus on the back."

The float will move to Pasadena in mid-December, and between Christmas and New Year’s Day, hundreds of students and volunteers work to finish the float with flowers and other natural materials.

The "Road to Reclamation" will drive down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena as part of the 134th Rose Parade on Monday, Jan. 2, according to the school.

For more information, visit: rosefloat.org.