On New Years Day 2001, CLAFMA participated
with the California State Firefighters Association in Pasadena’s
annual Tournament of Roses Parade and festivities leading
up to it.
The following was adapted from Jim Page’s
"Burning Issues" column in the March 2001 of FireRescue
Magazine:
The Tournament of Roses parade and the
Rose Bowl game are always held on New Years Day and, for some
reason or other, the weather in Southern California is almost
always perfect on the first day of the year. On January 1,
2001, I was one of seven guys in period costumes pushing and
pulling an antique hand pumper (circa 1853) along the 4.6
mile parade route. As usual, the air was clear and dry, and
the temperature was in the mid-seventies.
If you saw this year’s parade on
NBC, you missed us. The director cut to Al Roker for a weather
report and commercial break just as we pushed our rig past
the cameras. That’s okay. There were several hundred
thousand people cheering us on.
I was participating with the County
of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association. We’d been invited
to join the California State Firefighters Association (CSFA)
“Steamer Team” as part of a five-unit display of
fire service history. In addition to our hand pumper, there
was a hand-drawn hose cart and three horse-drawn rigs –
the CSFA steamer, a San Bernardino hose wagon, and a Fresno
ladder truck. The matched black Percherons and the white Shire
draft horses were a show all by themselves, but they sure
left a mess in the street.
In show business they say you should
never appear with dogs or kids because they’ll always
upstage you. Dave Hubert, owner and operator of the CSFA steamer,
walked the parade with his well-trained Dalmatian, “Blaze.”
She charmed the crowds and the TV cameras, and mooched a few
snacks along the way.
Every
entry in the Rose Parade must
be decorated with flowers. The night before the parade we
received buckets of flowers left over from the float builders.
A bunch of hairy-chested firefighters got busy and demonstrated
previously unknown talents as they fashioned wreaths and garlands
for our old rig. Finally, they hung four buckets of red and
white long-stemmed carnations and roses from the handrails.
Along the parade route, we took turns jogging to the edge
of the crowd to hand long-stem flowers to pretty little girls
or little old ladies in wheelchairs. The crowds roared with
approval.
The last half-mile after the end of
the parade was tough. It was uphill and there were no crowds
to cheer us on. But, amazingly, on January 2nd, when I awoke
and took stock of the bodily damage, the only thing that hurt
was my jaws. From the start of the parade to the finish, I
had been grinning from ear to ear.
From 1973 to 1983 I lived and worked
on the east coast. I went to a lot of small town parades and
saw a lot of firefighters showing off their finest uniforms
and equipment. I always felt a surge of pride when the bystanders
clapped and cheered for their firefighters, but I never really
understood the attraction until January 1, 2001.
On New Year’s Day we were preceded
and followed by magnificent floats that each cost a hundred
thousand dollars or more. We could see and hear the public’s
reaction, which was polite and appreciative. But that was
no match for the cheers we received. The crowd was comprised
of locals, college football fans from Washington and Indiana,
and "snowbirds" who flock to Pasadena each year
for the parade and the weather. Viewed from the center of
Colorado Boulevard, they were a sea of faces, twenty deep
on the sidewalks and sloping upward as high as thirty feet
in temporary grandstands.
Reflecting the changing population of
the region, the faces in the crowd were diverse. Many of those
faces were born elsewhere and immigrated to America. Their
native cultures had nothing to match the American love affair
with the fire service. Still, they smiled broadly and clapped
and cheered as our display of firefighting antiquity rolled
by.
I’ll never again look at a parade
without recalling the 2001 Rose Parade. My colleagues and
I got to interact face-to-face with nearly a million people.
It was great fun and I felt honored to have the opportunity
to represent the fire service in the granddaddy of all parades.
CLAFMA delegation ready to enter parade route
on New Years morning. Left to right: Jim Page, Paul Oyler,
Jerry Kramer (Orange County Fire Authority), Jordan Pearl,
Ron Ripley, Joe Woyjeck, and Gil Garcia.
