Watch for the Cal Poly Rose Float on New Year's Day

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Watch for the Cal Poly Rose Float and its Chinese dragons on Colorado Boulevard New Year's Day in the 119th Annual Rose Parade.

2008 Rose Float works For those who can't make it to Pasadena New Year's Morning, The Rose Parade will be broadcast on ABC, NBC, Univision, HGTV, Travel Channel and Discovery HD as well as KWHY and KTLA in the Los Angeles area.The Parade is also
seen in more than 150 international territories.

The parade begins at 8 a.m. (PST) Tuesday, Jan. 1. KTLA, carried by cable providers on the Central Coast, will present the entire parade from start to finish.

The Cal Poly Rose Float is the only float created entirely by students and volunteers, a tradition that dates back to 1949. Students at the sister campuses, Cal Poly and California State Polytechnic, Pomona, each build half of the float early in the year.

Cal Poly's half is then trucked to Pomona in late November, where students work to join the halves and finish the float. Students, parents, alumni and volunteers put the finishing touches -- and hundreds of flowers -- on the float the weekend before the parade.

This year’s CalPoly float, “Guardians of Harmony,” depicts a tranquil Asian garden scene nestled at the bottom of a jagged mountain and balanced between the strength and beauty of a dragon and a Phoenix. The Great Wall of China wraps around the mountain and a three-tiered water fall cascades down into a koi pond.

More information about the Cal Poly Rose Float is available at: www.asi.calpoly.edu/rosefloat (CPSLO) or http://www.cpprosefloat.org/site/news.php (CPP).

For more details on the Rose Parade, visit the Tournament of Roses Web site: http://www.tournamentofroses.com/roseparade/