NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Louisiana float builders and tourism leaders are coming home with a win from the 2024 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.
For the past two years, they’ve won the “Showmanship” award, and for their first year, they won another award. This is an honor for one of the hundreds of volunteers who made it happen.
“There’s so much work that goes into the floats. Everything you see in the Rose Parade is an organic item, a flower, a seed, grass, leaves,” said parade volunteer Ashley Hollier.
Hollier and her mother, Maxine Hollier, put in the work volunteering to help build this year’s Louisiana float in the 2024 Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.
After finishing the float, they even got to strut down the streets for the five-mile parade alongside the elaborately decorated float.
“First of all, in New Orleans, you’ll never turn the corner and see a beautiful backdrop of mountains, just un-real to see that in the background,” she said.
Last year, it was a dream of Maxine’s to go to the parade, and, when they did, they went inside to see the float den. Fast forward to this year, with the help of State Senator Freddie Mills, the dream bloomed.
“A couple of calls later, we became guests of the parade that also got to walk in the parade,” she said.
The mother-daughter duo worked on the float for a few days.
“There were roses of all colors on this float,” she said.
What struck Hollier most was how different the Rose Parade is compared to Louisiana’s Mardi Gras parades.
“You’re not allowed to throw anything. So, the audience is waving back and wishing you a happy new year. So, we are just waving and dancing at them, but there are no throws. The crowd was so excited to see our beads, they wanted us to throw them beads, but we can’t,” said Hollier.
But the Louisiana float can help plant a seed in parade spectators’ minds.
“Hopefully this was an invitation for people to come see what we do in our parades here at home,” she said.
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