Club leaders trace the tradition to the 1980s, when many members were active in both the Tournament of Roses and the Lions, and this year’s breakfast comes as the 106-year-old service club reports nearly $175,000 in Eaton Fire relief assistance. Club President Ron Bailey said the morning is not a fire-relief event, but “it reflects our continued commitment to community, connection, and service.”
Maddox, a senior at Eagle Rock High School, was crowned the 108th Rose Queen Oct. 27 on the front steps of Tournament House. She founded her school’s Korean Culture Club and captains its varsity swim and girls water polo teams, according to a Tournament of Roses news release.
The court also includes Evita Bridge of Mayfield Senior School, Tessa Choi of La Cañada High School, Daniela Guzmán of Arcadia High School, Maria McDonald of Thurgood Marshall Secondary School, Elizabeth Rweyemamu of Polytechnic School and Lucy Wendling of San Marino High School. The seven were named Sept. 28, and each receives a $7,500 educational scholarship.
Club members will hear from each court member and have a chance to meet them and take photographs, Bailey said. Davé said the club has set aside a room at the University Club where the court can relax before the program, and that the club president now escorts the queen and princesses into the meeting room as their names are announced. “It is a once in a lifetime experience,” Davé said.
“We continue this tradition because we want to recognize and appreciate young women who demonstrate a commitment to serving their communities,” Bailey said in written responses to questions. “That commitment aligns directly with the Lions motto, ‘We Serve.’”
Over the years the club has hosted the court at a luncheon at the University Club, as well as at The Salvation Army and Noor, before returning to the University Club for a breakfast, Bailey said. The club hosted the 2016 Rose Queen and Royal Court at a University Club luncheon whose proceeds benefited its charitable activities, and it held a breakfast at the University Club for the 2025 court on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024.
Davé said many service clubs and organizations that once hosted the Rose Court have stopped, that the Lions are one of very few still holding the event, and that the club has opened it to the wider Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley community. The Pasadena Jaycees, which hosted a Royal Court Reception beginning in the late 1930s, list that event as on pause as of 2022. The Pasadena Chamber of Commerce lists its own annual breakfast honoring the Tournament, with the Rose Queen and Royal Court as guests, for Dec. 10.
Davé, the club’s Memorial Trust treasurer, said past club president Tom Kester, then the event’s chair, asked him to take it on “around 2010 or so.” “I felt the honor to be asked and accepted the assignment,” he said. Davé said he has been associated with the Tournament of Roses since 1988 and, as club president in 2016-17, escorted that year’s Rose Queen.
Since the Eaton Fire in January 2025, the club has also contributed more than 1,000 volunteer service hours, according to Bailey. With approximately 1,000 students displaced by the fire, the club directed $38,000 to back-to-school supplies and $15,000 to teacher microgrants, he said, and helped replace athletic and recreational equipment at Pasadena, Blair, Muir and Thurgood Marshall high schools and First Tee of Pasadena. Through the club’s vision work, 150 local residents received free eye exams and prescription eyeglasses, Bailey said. “Our response began with immediate needs and has evolved toward helping people, students, schools, and organizations recover over the longer term,” he said.
Several court members run service projects of their own. Choi founded Hands to Heart, a nonprofit focused on neuroblastoma, and Wendling founded Open Heart Equine Services, according to their Tournament biographies. Wendling volunteers with Union Station Family Services, and McDonald serves as an Altadena WILD Student Ambassador.
“I hope the Queen and her court come away understanding that service to your community can be a lifelong, fulfilling journey,” Bailey said. “Young people are the future leaders of community service.” The club sponsors four Leo clubs, the high school version of the Lions, in the Pasadena area, he said.
“A club with a 106-year history cannot rely on tradition alone,” said Bailey, who also served as club president in 2017-18. The club was chartered March 26, 1920, with 41 charter members and was the fifth Lions club chartered in California. In the 1930s, as a member of United Service Clubs, it helped Pasadena enter its first float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, according to a 2010 tribute in the Congressional Record.
The court will ride in the 138th Rose Parade on Jan. 1, 2027, and attend the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the 113th Rose Bowl Game. Closer to home, the Lions are collecting groceries at their Nov. 17 meeting for Union Station Homeless Services’ Thanksgiving Dinner in the Park.
Tickets are $65 per person, according to the club’s event flyer. Reservations may be made through event chair Kirit Davé at kirit@kmsaccounting.com or (626) 826-9202, and payment is accepted by Venmo at @danielgaby or by Zelle to Daniel Gaby at (310) 863-9749, the flyer states. General questions may be directed to the club at pasadenahostlionsclub@gmail.com or by calling (626) 765-7154.
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