Gillette florist headed back to Pasadena for third Rose Bowl parade

GILLETTE - Among the many floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade - which wended its way down a sunny street in Pasadena, California, on New Year's Day - was the work of Gillette florist Kathy Jones of Spring Creek Designs.

Having left early Christmas morning, before the first light crossed the Gillette skyline, Jones was one of many artists working on the Pasadena Humane and Hill's Pet Nutrition float, an entry in Pasadena's 136th Tournament of Roses Parade, scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on New Year's Day.

Jones had previously worked with Fiesta Parade Floats, helping with floats for Kaiser Permanente and then the city of Torrance, California her first two years.

In fact, the Torrance float won the Princess Trophy, which recognizes the most outstanding floral presentation among entries 35 feet and under in length.

But Fiesta Parade Floats shut its doors earlier in 2024, and Jones wasn't sure if she would be returning to the Rose Bowl until she was contacted in early fall.

"We have a group of people who share an Airbnb and we all kind of thought, maybe we're done," she said. "But another company, Artistic Entertainment Services, took over quite a few of the floats that the old float company had."

Jones is a long-time worker in the floral industry. She has 37 years of experience under her belt and her shop, Spring Creek Designs, is celebrating its 20th year.

Jones said she has gotten many congratulations and questions from her customers since she announced she would be returning to Pasadena.

"The community response has been fabulous," she said. "I can't believe all the customers that come in and ask me about it. I guess I just didn't realize people were paying that much attention to what I was doing."

With work starting a day earlier in the year, Jones and her team typically work with the previously constructed wire skeleton and mold to add the flowers and other arrangements to get the float ready to head down Colorado Boulevard.

"We're not doing the tiny, tiny stuff, but we're doing the floral arranging," said Jones. "There will be flowers, and they have to be affixed to the floats very sturdily so that when they go down the street things aren't flying off. There's quite a process to make sure everything is attached really securely."

Thinking back to her first time working on a float for the Rose Bowl parade, Jones said the sheer size of the things still gets to her, with it being very different from just seeing the float pass you by or on the TV. The whole thing takes on a grander scale when you are working on bringing it to life.

"It was so cool to see them take form from just a metal skeleton, and I was always blown away by the pure size of some of the floats," Jones said. "I mean, some of these things are huge. You're out there working on scaffolding for them."

However, according to Jones, what sticks with her when she leaves – and her favorite part of the whole experience - is the people she meets and works with in such a unique experience.

"I've really met some interesting people, people from all around the country who come to do this, and some of them have been doing it for 20 to 30 years," she said. "You really get to meet some interesting people in the business. It's just a really fun group of people that make this happen."