Photos: Rose Parade preparation returns after 1-year hiatus - Los Angeles Times
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Photos: Rose Parade preparation returns after one-year hiatus

Two masked people paint glasses on the face of a giant rooster
Volunteers work a float for the upcoming Rose Parade.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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The Rose Parade will return Saturday. For many, the return will be seen as a cheerful respite from two painful pandemic years. But the parade — and its enormous crowd from across the country — are coming at a fraught time. Coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are soaring again because of the highly contagious Omicron variant. Disruptions abound.

Challenges aside, the return of the Rose Parade will be welcomed by those who cherish it.

Floats are being decorated, marching bands are tuning up and thousands are bundling up to see the spectacle. But the pandemic lurks in the background.

Dec. 29, 2021

Volunteers decorate float.
James Haubner, with help from his mother, Krista, attaches pink carnations to the bottom of a beaker that is part of The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor UCLA float. Last minute decorations are going on ahead of the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
Beans are placed onto a float with tweezers
Ellerose Chan, 14, glues mung beans onto a turtle for a Rose Parade float on Dec. 27.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Masked volunteers work on Rose Parade floats.
The return of the parade has not come without logistical challenges. Volunteers have dropped out because of the Omicron surge, and float builders have had difficulty getting materials because of high costs and supply chain issues.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A masked woman paints a creature on a Rose Parade float.
“I figured they’d be shorthanded because of the pandemic, so I thought I would pitch in,” said Mary Ann Cosgrove, as she works on the “Masked Singer” float.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A masked volunteer sits on a beam painting a large human figure
Alison Darrow works on the California Physical Therapy Assn. float.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A woman holds a red carnation.
Teresa Rosales prepares a red carnation. The costs of materials including roses, seeds and steel have exploded in recent months, according to Janet Benjamin, decoration chairperson for the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses float.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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