Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Pasadena Update #3

Well, it was back to sunshine again here in Southern California! And we all enjoyed it a lot more than the rainy weather yesterday. Today was our last day working on the floats for the parade and we spent extra time making them look spectacular.

Last night, 10 members of our group went back to the Rose Palace to continue working on some unfinished floats as they needed to be completed before the judging was done this morning at 8:00 a.m. Some floats, such as the Lutheran Hour float, were completed before the group arrived at 11:00 PM Our group members continued working on floats that the Petal Pushers agreed to decorate until 2:30 this morning. (As you may or may not know, the Petal Pusher volunteers decorate a number of floats for other companies.  The money received for decorating those floats pays for the cost of the Lutheran Hour float.  Brilliant idea!!)  Then they headed back to the hotel. They said that the freeways were a lot easier to travel then they are during rush hour!!  They slept in a little longer than the rest of us, but went back to the Palace to continue working on the floats at 10:00 this morning.
The rest of the group, who didn’t go back to work last night, headed to Rosemont (This is right by the Rose Bowl stadium where the football game is played!) today to work on the Honda float.
This is the largest float in the parade, as it has three sections. Honda is a major sponsor of the parade and there were a lot of people working on this float to make it look amazing. However, since they are such a large sponsor, their float couldn’t be judged for any awards. The front section represents Japan and the back section represents the United States with a bridge in the middle connecting them. Our group worked on red and white carnations for the float.

This was the same process as we did yesterday, so we were pretty much pros today! We prepared a lot of white carnations, which lined the entire bottom of the float. Some people even got to put some of the flowers on the Honda float. What a neat experience!

The floats are all motorized and driven by someone inside of the float. We got to watch as they pulled four of the floats out of the building and onto the street. Some floats have pieces that are too tall, so they are motorized to fold up and down. It’s interesting to watch them move up and get into place with nobody physically moving them. All of these moving pieces have to be let down every time there is a bridge or anything that it could run into. This means there’s a lot of things to be timed just right so nothing falls and breaks off.

All of the floats at Rosemont had to be done by 4:00, as that’s when judging was, but we left mid-morning to head to the Rose Palace and continue working on the floats over there. We met the rest of our group at the Palace and worked on the City of L.A. and Western Assets floats as they still needed to be finished before the parade tomorrow. Apparently, since they weren’t done at 8:00 a.m., they were judged unfinished, but we still came back and finish them. By the time we got there, many volunteers and crew leaders had already left, so we were working with those filling in who didn’t know much about the float decorations. This made it confusing to figure out what to do and which kinds of flowers and seeds needed to be placed in the specific areas. It was a slower process than what we were used to, but we still managed to get a lot accomplished on these floats.


We heard that the reason that the floats were not finished yesterday is because a couple groups of volunteers who promised to work did not show up so…IOWAY to the rescue!!!!
Before we left, we got a group picture in front of the Lutheran Hour float. It was amazing to see how much work was done on it after we left yesterday! It really is a work of God. Make sure to watch HGTV tomorrow morning to see our float. It is the 7th one in the parade, so it should be on towards the beginning of the broadcast!





Hopefully everything works out tomorrow morning and we’ll be sitting right on the edge of Colorado Boulevard with a great view of the parade. We’re leaving the hotel at 5:00 a.m. with hopes of getting there early enough to find parking spaces that aren’t too far away. We’ll be all bundled up tomorrow morning as Pasadena is supposed to be near an all-time low of 32 degrees. Hopefully it warms up by the time the parade starts and we can continue enjoying this beautiful weather!
Happy New Year from Los Angeles!
Jeni Zeller-Journalist

Ellie Menz-Photos

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Pasadena Update #2
December 30, 2014

Today was another eventful day as our group once again traveled to Pasadena to work on the floats. We left at 7:00 this morning and drove in completely different weather than yesterday! We enjoyed the nice California sunshine the entire day yesterday, but today it was clouded over and rained throughout the afternoon—something that isn’t that common here in Southern California. (I shouldn’t complain about the rainy weather, since it is a lot colder and maybe even snowing back home!)

Once arriving at the Rose Palace, we started working immediately on the floats. Most of us worked on the Lutheran Hour float for most of the day. Today was really the last day to work on the float because the final judging will be at 8:00 tomorrow morning.  It was amazing to see how much progress we got done on the float before we left at 4:00. We had the fun of putting on beautiful gerber daisies and gorgeous roses, along with many other dried and live flowers.

The Lutheran Hour float represents stories from the Bible, including a large Bible at the back. So much detail was put into the float, including Noah’s Ark with two pairs of animals on each side, and a manger with animals beside it.

Prepping flowers for float

Each float has over 500 different types of flowers and seeds, and we spent many hours handling the different kinds. Some of us learned how to cut and glue ti leaves, mums, and carnations to put on the float. The ti leaves filled the back of the Bible and the mums made a nice outline along the inside of the Bible. For the carnations, we put toothpicks in the base, so they could be stuck easily onto the float.
Manger scene on Lutheran Hour float

Another group finished the tablet containing the 10 Commandmetts, which was made completely out of seeds. There is so much detail in the float, so make sure to watch HGTV to see all of the hard work we put into each and every piece of the float.

Before any of the flowers can be pushed into the float base, which is made of spray foam over chicken wire, we had to cover it all with ferns and staple them in by hand. To make it easy to organize the multiple colored flowers, the float base (foam) is painted the color that matches the color of the flowers that will be placed there.
Noah's Ark on Lutheran Hour float
We had to be sure not to pin the ferns too dense as we still needed to be able to see the color of flowers that needed to be added. Then, after the entire float was covered with the ferns, we trekked over to the flower tent and we brought ‘pallets’ of flowers that we vialed yesterday. They were all organized by color, which made it easier to find and take to their specific place on the float.
Thousands of roses vialed and ready for the floats 
Kathryn, Karen and Julie 'preparing' the commandments


We started by finding a colored patch to fill with flowers. Each patch could have four or five different kinds of flowers of different shades of the color. On some parts we pushed the roses down farther and the other flowers were kept higher.

It was neat to see everyone working together to get the float finished in an orderly manner. We left before the float was completely done, so I’m sure it will be a surprise when we see it at the parade! We drove back to our hotel in the pouring rain and once again hit rush hour traffic. After a few wrong turns, all of the cars eventually made it back to the hotel just in time for a short break before supper.
After our devotions tonight, some of the members stayed to assemble more health kits, while the rest went to get a little rest before heading back for more work! 14 of our group members volunteered to go back to the Rose Palace tonight to keep working on unfinished floats so they are finished for the judging tomorrow morning at 8. They’ll be leaving the hotel around 10:00, so they decided to get a couple more hours of sleep before going back to work in the morning.





Those who didn’t go back to work another shift will be heading to the other float decorating site, Rosemont, tomorrow morning to work on the floats there. Tomorrow will be a big and stressful day for everyone working on the floats as they have to be finished by a certain time. Keep our group in your prayers as they travel back to the Palace tonight to continue working on the floats and those working at Rosemont tomorrow. Good night from a rainy Los Angeles!  Jeni Zeller

Monday, December 29, 2014

Pasadena Update #1

Hi Everyone,

Saturday was a driving day as 23 Iowans drove down to Kansas City where we flew out bright and early Sunday morning. We left our Residence Inn hotel a little after 5 a.m. and made our trek to the airport where we boarded our 7:05 a.m. flight to Los Angeles. We met our partners, a group of 15 from Indiana, at Enterprise Rentals to make our group total 38.

We checked into our Residence Inn hotel and were starving so headed to a nearby Hometown Buffet. After making a stop at the famous Ralph’s grocery to stock up on some food for the week it was time for a short Sunday afternoon nap for some of the group.  Nearly everyone brought an extra suitcase of hygiene items to be distributed at Skid Row for the homeless so in the evening, we started organizing supplies for hygiene kits. After a long and exhausting day, we went to bed early to get ready for our car ride to Pasadena and start working on the floats for the parade.

Monday morning we loaded up our 8 cars, leaving a little after 7, and made the trip to Pasadena. After arriving at the Rose Palace, part of the group went inside to work on the Lutheran Hour float, while the rest went out to the flower tent where they vialed roses for most of the day getting them ready to put on the floats in
the next couple of days. This process went really fast as each group had a person stripping the leaves, another cutting the stem, someone pulling the vials from the water, and another putting the vials in a Styrofoam square. Some of us glued beans onto the letters and pieces of the float, while others glued marigold powder to the sides and top of the Bible on the float.

We worked right up until 4:00 when our shift was finished and headed back to our hotel. As we were getting closer to rush hour, the traffic slowed down at some points during our trip. We made it back safely, and relaxed our aching bones for a little while. Residence Inn provided a nice supper of chicken fajitas and we enjoyed that before some devotion time and hygiene kit making time. We discussed our thoughts of the day commonly known to IOWAY people as “pows and wows.”


Tomorrow we will head back to Pasadena to work another shift, beginning a little before 8. I know we’ll be amazed at how different the float will look tomorrow and see how much has progressed during the work of the night shift. The temperatures are higher here, which affects the way flowers open and the time to begin installing the final roses is being adjusted by the crew chiefs. We look forward to having all the floats we are working on look absolutely magnificent as they head down Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1. The Lutheran Hour float is a knock-out this year with such beauty and intimate detail. We wish you could be here with us to see it take shape!


We will finish assembling the hygiene kits in the coming days, with all of the items we brought in our mountain of luggage to share at Skid Row on Jan. 3rd. Many churches and individuals sent money for that purpose so a trip to the local Dollar Store may also be on our agenda in the coming days as we fill all the towel kits we have with us for the homeless as we show God’s love to them in that special way.


God’s blessings to each to you!  Jeni Zeller