Hello, good people. Everybody loves a parade! … and who doesn’t?
Just think, the La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association is among a handful of all-volunteer, self-built floats that roll around “TV Corner” on New Year’s Day as a part of America’s celebration for the world to capture a glimpse of who we are as a community. Holy cow!
And some people seem to think that we flip a switch and presto, another award-winning float! Our friend, Nancy, would take exception to that as she proudly makes her way down to the site to create the magic that we all see on TV. I asked her why she does this and she simply says, “It’s fun and I’m hanging out with friends.”
You all know that there is a cost to everything that we do and our award-winning float (11 in a row) costs about $125,000 for construction and decoration materials, [plus] hundreds of hours of volunteer time that starts in January with the demolition of the float and culminates in December with the Under the Bridge Deco Week.
And that is the purpose of this note: We need you to support our efforts and for those of you that haven’t bought tickets to the Nov. 4 Wine & Roses Reception that starts at 4 p.m. — please join us! We have a “flower power” theme, which means some of us can pull out some of our old high school clothes, if they still fit, and come on down and gather with new and old friends.
We are pretty jazzed that we will meet the new Pasadena Tournament of Roses Royal Court, that we are being hosted by Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, that we will have some fun food and beverage to sample, and have some great silent and live auction items.
I believe that we are building community through the creation of another award-winning float and in this crazy world that we live in, we need to celebrate the strength of our community.
Please visit our website at lcftra.org to purchase tickets, to match my $1,000 gift, or to make a donation to support the cause.
Rich Boccia
LCFTRA Vice President
La Cañada Flintridge
First published in the October 19 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
