Rose Parade kicks off with a smaller, but enthusiastic crowd despite rise in COVID, RSV and flu cases

Just before 6 a.m., Kelly and Nathan Alexander warmed themselves beside a roaring propane fire pit outside Total Wines & More on Colorado Boulevard as they waited for the Rose Parade to begin.

The parade — started in 1890 as a promotional event by a local social club to show off Pasadena’s famously mild winter weather — was set to kick off under clear skies and temperatures in the 40s. It was downright balmy compared to the arctic blast that gripped much of the country the week before Christmas.

Kelly, celebrating her 37th birthday Monday, is an Arcadia native who grew up coming to the parade with her church youth group, camping out on the boulevard “millions of times,” she said.

Last week, the couple, who now live in Colorado Springs, loaded their five kids — ages 8, 12, 14, 15 and 17 — into an RV, skirted snow storms in Arizona, visited family in Southern California, then headed to the City of Roses. They staked out a prime spot on the 5.5-mile route Sunday afternoon — surprised that there seemed to be far fewer overnight campers than in years past.

“It was really dead,” Kelly said. “Usually it’s a wild party. But the people who were here were having a good time.”

Typically held on New Year’s Day, the event is being held Monday as part of the parade’s “never on a Sunday” tradition. The original organizers did not want to interfere with worship services. The 134th Rose Parade comes three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the parade was canceled for the first time since World War II. Last year, it returned to smaller crowds, with coronavirus safety measures that included requiring parade participants and spectators to wear masks in ticketed areas and show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

This year, there are no such mandates, although health officials are recommending masking in large crowds — and staying home if sick — amid a winter rise in cases of COVID-19, flu and RSV that has strained hospitals across the country.

David Rivas of Harbor City takes an early morning run in his alien costume with the South Bay Runners Club, running the 10-mile route before the Rose Parade early Monday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The parade’s theme this year — an expression of hope and resilience — is “Turning the Corner.” The grand marshal is former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived being shot in the head in 2011.

“The idea of ‘turning the corner’ also resonates from a national perspective,” Giffords said in a statement. “Our country has faced multiple years of a deadly pandemic and political rancor. Yet medical advances and bipartisan compromise have helped us to take steps towards a better future, even if these steps aren’t always as quick or as sure as we would like them to be, but I’ve learned the importance of incremental progress — and that progress starts with having the courage to hope, and then to act on that hope.”

This year’s parade features 39 floats, 21 marching bands and 16 equestrian units, according to the Tournament of Roses.

By Sunday evening, enthusiasts had begun gathering along Colorado and Arroyo boulevards in preparation for the next morning’s parade.

A trumpet playing “Last Christmas” pierced through the bustle of traffic along Colorado near Delacroy Avenue as Nick Tea, 17, carried a fully inflated air mattress over his shoulder. The La Crescenta High School senior was looking for a camping spot that his friend, Grant Barton, had staked out.

The pair said they were braving the chilly weather overnight to support Barton’s girlfriend, Uma Wittenberg, who is a princess in this year’s parade.

Earlier in the day, Richard Lugo was one of hundreds who turned out for a short preview of the parade as the floats made their way from a warehouse in Irwindale, where they are constructed, to the parade route in Pasadena.

Lugo said he grew up going to the Rose Parade. From the time he was 8 years old until he was an adult, he and his extended family would wake up early every New Year‘s Day and walk from his grandmother’s home in Pasadena to the parade.

“Some years we didn’t sleep at all,” Lugo said.

This year he continued the tradition with his 5-year-old granddaughter — taking her for an early look at the floats.

“It’s quite a spectacle,” he said.