Louisiana’s Rose Parade Float Returns to Colorado Boulevard for a Sixth Year

A pelican decked in purple, green and gold will roll down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day, carrying Louisiana into the 138th Rose Parade for the state’s sixth appearance in Pasadena.

Louisiana’s Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser unveiled the float’s design on Thursday, Aug. 20, and named its mid-parade entertainer, the New Orleans singer Robin Barnes. The entry, called “Bienvenue en Louisiane” — “Welcome to Louisiana” — is built around the parade’s 2027 theme, “Welcome,” and will be one of the floats moving along the 5.5-mile route through Pasadena on Jan. 1, 2027.

The design leans on Louisiana shorthand. Around the pelican, the state’s float will feature alligators, crawfish, Spanish moss and details drawn from the French Quarter, according to the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Like every entry in the parade, it must be covered almost entirely in natural material — in this case roughly 25,000 roses, orchids, coconuts and other plant matter.

Barnes, an award-winning vocalist and songwriter known as “The Songbird of New Orleans,” will handle the parade’s mid-show entertainment. The state also identifies her as its Louisiana State Music Ambassador. Her debut full-length album, “Louisiana Love,” was released in May 2026.

“To perform at the Rose Parade and represent my home state of Louisiana is truly a dream come true,” Barnes said in the announcement.

The float is sponsored by the Louisiana Office of Tourism, which Nungesser oversees as the state’s tourism commissioner. In its announcement, the office said coverage of its floats over the past five years had reached more than 1.6 billion people and generated $192.5 million in media value — figures the state attributes to itself and describes as a 45-to-1 return on its investment. The release also states that Louisiana’s floats have won Tournament of Roses honors in each of the past four years: the Wrigley Legacy Award in 2022, Showmanship Awards in 2023 and 2024, and the Director’s Award in 2025.

“I don’t know any other place in the world more welcoming than Louisiana,” Nungesser said in the release. He added: “Louisiana knows how to make an impression, and every year people tell us how excited they are to see our float.”

For Pasadena, the float is one piece of a much larger New Year’s Day production. The parade steps off at the corner of Green Street and North Orange Grove Boulevard, moves north, then turns east onto Colorado Boulevard — the stretch where most spectators gather — before ending near North Sierra Madre Boulevard and Villa Street. This year’s theme, “Welcome,” was announced in January by Tournament of Roses President Terry Madigan.

In the days before the parade, the state’s float, like the others, will be finished by hand in Pasadena, where decorating sites open to public viewing each year. The 138th Rose Parade, presented by Honda, will be broadcast live and on streaming services beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific through partners that the state listed as ABC, NBC and Univision.

For details on volunteering to decorate the float, the Louisiana Office of Tourism directed the public to its Rose Parade webpage.

Four months out, the pelican exists only as a rendering — purple, green and gold, still waiting for its flowers.