Winged Tiger, Koi and a Mardi Gras Pelican Fill Irwindale Builder’s Rose Parade Lineup

A tiger with animated wings, two koi gliding through lotus blossoms and a pelican dressed in Mardi Gras purple, green and gold are headed for Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day.

All three are on the 2027 roster that Fiesta Productions, an Irwindale float builder, announced Thursday in a press release. The company says it is building five entries for the 138th Rose Parade in Pasadena. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses has already listed Fiesta as the builder of two of them, for the City of Torrance and the nonprofit EL ARCA. The other three appear in the company’s own announcement.

Those three are Explore Louisiana’s “Bienvenue en Louisiane,” the Oklahoma Route 66 Centennial Commission’s “Past, Present, and Full Speed Ahead” and the San Francisco Travel Association’s “Summer of Love.” Torrance’s entry is titled “Serenity Awaits,” and EL ARCA’s is “A Safe Place to Belong.” The release describes Torrance’s entry as continuing a multigenerational partnership.

“The 2027 ‘WELCOME’ theme invites us to show the depth of our craft,” Mike Abboud, Fiesta’s president and chief creative officer, said in the release. He added, “We are excited to show the world that great floats are grown, not assembled.”

Torrance’s float sets two koi with animated tails in an underwater garden of lotus flowers, according to Fiesta’s website. EL ARCA’s winged mother tiger measures more than 32 feet from head to tail, with wings that reach more than 23 feet above the route, and the float includes two real waterfalls.

Founded in 1965, EL ARCA serves adults with developmental disabilities across Greater Los Angeles. According to the organization’s September press release, 2027 will be its first Rose Parade. Its president and CEO, Dr. John M. Menchaca, said in that release that “true inclusion means being seen, valued, and celebrated.”

The Louisiana float, sponsored by the Louisiana Office of Tourism, surrounds its pelican with alligators, crawfish, Spanish moss and touches of the French Quarter, according to the office’s August press release. It will be decorated with approximately 25,000 roses, orchids, coconuts and other natural materials. The office said 2027 marks the sixth time since 2022 it has sponsored a float.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said in the release that “every year people tell us how excited they are to see our float.” Singer Robin Barnes will provide Louisiana’s mid-parade entertainment. In the office’s announcement, as reported by KATC, Barnes said the chance to “represent my home state of Louisiana is truly a dream come true.”

Fiesta’s announcement says the Louisiana float celebrates Mardi Gras and the state’s culture, cuisine and music, and it ties the Oklahoma float to Route 66’s 100th anniversary. It describes San Francisco’s entry as a floral tribute that launches a 60th-anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love.

San Francisco Travel’s 2026 float, also built by Fiesta, won the parade’s Extraordinaire Award. Torrance’s 2026 entry won the Theme Award.

This year’s floats will carry the 2027 theme, “Welcome,” which the Pasadena Tournament of Roses said “celebrates the simple joy of belonging.” The parade begins at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, January 1, 2027, with broadcast partners including ABC, NBC and Univision. The College Football Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game follows the parade.

Fiesta, whose facility is at 16016 Avenida Padilla, Suite A, in Irwindale, is inviting volunteers to help decorate its floats, with information at fiestaproductions.com/volunteer. The company’s website lists a minimum age of 12 for decorators.

By the time the floats reach Colorado Boulevard, volunteers will have helped decorate them — “grown,” as Abboud put it, “not assembled.”