The votes poured in and Cal Poly emerged the winner at the 120th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. Capturing 3,219 out of 10,618 votes, the “Seaside Amusement” float created by the Cal Poly universities of San Luis Obispo and Pomona won the inaugural Viewer’s Choice Award.
The Tournament of Roses organization gave out the Viewers’ Choice Award for the Rose Parade float which received the most votes in an online poll at ktla.com/roseparade. Viewers were allowed to vote from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 1, the day of the parade, and could watch the entire parade on the Web site.
“This is the first time that the Tournament of Roses has ever given an award that was not chosen by them,” said rose float coordinator Josh D’Acquisto. “It’s a big deal to be the viewers’ favorite, the peoples’ choice, if you will, as opposed to something that was just chosen by a few select judges.”
Cal Poly was presented with the Viewers’ Choice Award on Jan. 2 on KTLA’s morning news program at the Post Parade: Showcase of Floats event. D’Acquisto was notified around 9 p.m. Jan. 1 that Cal Poly had won the honor.
“Well over a year (of work) goes into the life of a float,” D’Acquisto said. “For that kind of effort and that kind of work I just thought it was fantastic to see (the students) get recognized and presented with a trophy and get all the media (attention). For me it’s just a great feeling to see them reap those rewards for their hard work.”
When the announcement came that Cal Poly had won, public relations Chair Jane Theobald said there was a “flood of excitement” in the hotel room where many of the students were staying.
“It was really cool because we didn’t win a normal award that’s traditionally given every year,” she said. “(The Viewers’ Choice Award) tells the Tournament of Roses what people really like to look at.”
“I feel like our float has more interest (compared to other floats) because we rebuild our float every year and a lot of professionals don’t.”
Assistant float program leader Katie Ford said that the other awards are given out before the parade because each winner receives a banner to be held along the route and everyone was dissapointed that Cal Poly hadn’t received one.
“But there was still this Viewers’ Choice Award left,” Ford said she thought to herself. “It’s kind of random and it’s kind of funky, but I’m going to try really hard and if I wave to a lot of people and have fun then maybe they’ll go home and vote for us. That’s what got me through the parade.”
“It was awesome to know that the viewers picked us,”she said. “Even the years we don’t win an award, it’s a huge accomplishment to finish the float, to have this thing we’ve been working on for a year go down a national parade route. But it’s even better when you can get recognized for what you do.”
A couple weeks before the parade, the Tournament of Roses notified the builders of each float that there would be a new award this year and told them to promote their float as much as possible. D’Acquisto said the Cal Poly float builders notified the local media and the university sent out an official e-mail to all students encouraging them to vote for “Seaside Amusement.”
Theobald said she e-mailed her parents and other family members and most of the students sent text messages to their friends.
One of the reasons the Tournament of Roses decided to do a viewer-chosen award this year, D’Acquisto said, was to try and attract a younger audience with internet voting. The organization also wanted to make people feel like it was the “people’s parade.”
“Seaside Amusement” was Cal Poly’s 61st float, and the only float in the Rose Parade to be completely designed, built and decorated by students and volunteers. D’Acquisto and Theobald both said the number of volunteers, many of them alumni who return each year to help Cal Poly decorate the float, greatly contributed to the schools’ success.
This year’s float featured a working Ferris wheel, roller coaster, bumper cars and a parachute drop. The float and two external bumper cars were all driven by students.
Ford was on the actual float and said she couldn’t move her arms after waving at the crowd for over two hours.
“It was wild,” she said. “It’s pretty intense. It’s a lot of fun and there’s a lot of energy on the parade route.”
This was Ford’s first year not watching the parade and she said it was a little weird because she felt like she missed the parade. It is also her last year at Cal Poly which she said makes her sad because she won’t be able to participate in the float program anymore.
“I’m going to miss it,” she said. “I’m graduating in June, but I think I’ll come back and help (with the float) in years to come because it’s been such a great program. I’d be really sad to ever see Cal Poly not have a Rose Parade float.”