The City of Burbank’s entry into this year’s annual Tournament of Roses Parade will be coming home as the winner of the Past Presidents Award. The Burbank float, which was the City’s 83rd entry, featured monkeys, firefighters, birds and even a huge giraffe. The award is for Most Creative Design and use of both floral & non-floral materials.
The parade kicked off promptly at 8:00 a.m. sharp with a flyover by a Stealth Bomber, followed by the parade theme float. The temperatures at the beginning of the parade were in the mid 30’s and plenty of spectators were bundled expecting it.
Burbank had two entries in this years parade: Grand Marshal Louie Zamperini, who passed away this past July, was a graduate of USC and the teams mascot Traveler led off the parade as the riderless horse. Traveler’s regular handler Hector Aguilar, a Burroughs graduate, guided Traveler.
Burbank’s Rose Float “Jungle Rescue” will return to Burbank on Tuesday evening and will be located at Olive Ave and Glenoaks Blvd, where the public can get a close of view and even buy souvenirs and help support next year’s float.
Here are some views of this year’s parade from our Chief Photographer Ross A. Benson-
