South Pasadena To Be Compensated For Rose Parade Float Snafu

SOUTH PASADENA, CA -- The local committee that builds Rose Parade floats will receive $5,000 and free entry in the 2020 parade to make up for a big snafu during this year's parade that was caused when a float ahead of the South Pas one stopped moving and began to smoke.

South Pasadena Tournament of Roses will receive $5,000, $4,000 of which is to help defray the cost of building its float and $1,000 for the music rights the group had secured for Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” after which the float was named and themed, according to Courtney Dunlap, the group’s chairperson, as reported by the Pasadena Star-News.

The Tournament of Roses will also waive South Pasadena’s 2020 entry fee of $2,500, according to the Star-News.

The compensation is to make up for an incident during this year's New Year's Day parade, when the Chinese American Heritage Foundation’s “Harmony Through Union” float stopped moving and smoke began erupting from it near the end of the parade.

The situation resulted in the South Pasadena float not being seen on television and even many of those present in the crowd not seeing it.

South Pasadena is one of a handful of groups, including the cities of Burbank, Downey, La Cañada Flintridge and Sierra Madre, that still build their own floats rather than use a float-building company, according to the Star-News.