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Happy New Year! 2010 Rose Parade photos from Pasadena

By Robert Niles
Published: January 1, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Happy New Year, from Pasadena, California!

The herald trumpets announce the beginning of Pasadena's 2010 Rose Parade:

Openig float in 2010 Rose Parade

Here's your Grand Marshall for the 121st Tournament of Roses parade, US Airways Flight 1549 hero, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger:

Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger

That is one big musician, kicking off this parade:

Farmers' Salute to the Bands

Jack in the Box brought a Samba band, in tribute to Rio's Carnival:

Jack in the Box float

Rain Bird brings spectacular floats to the Rose Parade every year. This year's entry won the Sweepstakes Award as the most beautiful entry in the parade. And yes, Busch Gardens fans, that's Jack Hanna on the front of the float.

Rain Bird Rose Parade float with Jack Hanna

Here comes the marching band from the Big Ten champs, The Ohio State University:

And here are the Oregon Ducks:

The City of Burbank won the animation award for this biplane in flight.

Burbank's biplane

The City of West Covina honored the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II:

Tuskegee airmen float in the 2010 Rose Parade

Several of these surviving American heroes rode on the float:

Tuskegee airmen veterans

That's one big fish up there, flying above the Trader Joe's Rose Parade float.

Trader Joe's Rose Parade float

That's Dick Van Patten riding at the front of his Natural Balance Pet Foods float.

Dick Van Patten

Tillman the bulldog goes for a snowboard run:

Tillman the Bulldog, snowboarding

The City of Anaheim hosts the Major League Baseball All-Star Game this summer, so the Angels are riding on this year's Rose Parade float.

Los Angeles Angels on the City Anaheim's Rose Parade float

Pepe Le Pew makes his move, again, on New Mexico's 2010 Rose Parade float.

Pepe Le Pew

The former owners of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Anheuser-Busch, paid tribute to America's Winter Olympic athletes on its Rose Parade float.

Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales and float


There's Olympic gold medalists Dan Jansen, with this year's short-track speedskater Katherine Reutter.

Katherine Reutter and Dan Jansen

Happy new year, everyone! Here's looking forward to another great year of theme park news, trip planning advice and trip reports on ThemeParkInsider.com.

Update: By request, here are a couple photos of Tournament of Roses equestrian units from today's parade:

Equestrians in the Rose Parade

Lariat tricks

Readers' Opinions

From Brian Emery on January 1, 2010 at 9:11 AM
Thanks Bobby…. My favorite Parade… It is awesome…!

Happy New Year..
From Derek Potter on January 1, 2010 at 10:22 AM
I gotta believe man....this is the year Ohio State removes their head from their arse and wins a big game. Go Bucks!
From James Rao on January 1, 2010 at 11:49 AM
I actually followed the whole thing on your Twitter feed. First time I ever used Twitter. Was kind of fun. Thanks for taking the time to keep me entertained.
From 96.14.22.62 on January 1, 2010 at 3:25 PM
Hi..I wish that you had more photos for those of us that did not see Parade for the first time in my life. I missed all the horses....do you have any photos of them?

Thank you...and Have a Healthy Happy New Year !

Karen R. Walsh
ladyhawkye@yahoo.com

From 71.92.66.7 on January 1, 2010 at 5:37 PM
Great job!!!
From Robert Niles on January 1, 2010 at 6:41 PM
Just added a couple of equestrian photos.
From Allen Boerger on January 1, 2010 at 7:41 PM
Hey...what's this? Ohio State beats the Ducks????
From Brian Emery on January 1, 2010 at 8:35 PM
Nice pictures….
Dan Jansen looks Ummmm, Uncomfortable……Maybe a little gassy…

Looks like you had great seats…

From Robert Niles on January 1, 2010 at 8:50 PM
Caught him in mid-wave, I'm afraid, but he was on my side and going by so quickly that it was the only shot I got of him. I have a shot of Michelle Kwan, but she's in such half-shadow that I didn't run it.

I'm proud of the Sully shot, though.

I was on the press photo stand a couple hundred yards east (down the route) from the main grandstands at Colorado and Orange Grove (where the TV cameras are).

From 72.70.195.86 on January 2, 2010 at 11:35 AM
Robert, what was the temp during the parade, it looks like people are wearing heavy coats?
From Blake Nieman on January 2, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Sorry about your Wildcats, Robert. That was about as crazy a game as I've seen in a while! (Mizzou fan here--sorry about last year too...I was cheering for Northwestern against the "other" Tigers!)
From Robert Niles on January 2, 2010 at 2:17 PM
I suppose we should have expected an ending like that, given that our quarterback's last name is ... Kafka. (I'm not kidding.)

As for the temp, the folks across the street there had camped all night for those seats, and it had gotten down to the low 40s. The parade starts one hour after sunrise, and the temp was up to the low 60s by then. It was in the mid-70s by parade's end.

From 66.74.61.65 on January 2, 2010 at 4:06 PM
I loved the snowboarding bulldogs float for natural balance. Dick Van Patten is a genius to come up with these ideas! How fun. Also liked the rainbird one with Jack Hanna
From 65.24.209.247 on January 3, 2010 at 7:48 AM
Yeah Buckeyes!!

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