San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Eyes Third Straight Rose Parade Sweepstakes Trophy

When San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s float rolls down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day, it will carry an ambition no previous entry has fulfilled: a third consecutive Sweepstakes Trophy, the Rose Parade’s highest honor.

The Alliance claimed the award in 2024 and again in 2025—a streak that some say has turned the conservation organization into the parade’s dominant competitor.

Now comes the question of whether lightning strikes a third time.

“We would be honored to be recognized with the Sweepstakes Award,” said David Miller, the Alliance’s Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, careful not to presume what a three-judge panel will decide when floats are scored on float design, floral presentation, and entertainment.

Growing Their Own Edge

Notably, the Alliance holds an unusual credential among float sponsors: accreditation as a botanical garden. That status allows horticulturists to cultivate their own materials rather than source them externally—a logistical advantage that has translated into visual distinctiveness.

For the 2026 elephant-themed entry, titled “Giant Strides Together,” staff grew savanna grasses on zoo grounds. Last year’s panda float drew on the same pipeline: bamboo propagated in San Diego—yellow groove, golden, and black varieties—traveled north to Pasadena for installation alongside hundreds of thousands of plant materials from more than 3,100 species. That float stood roughly 55 feet tall.

Four Elephants, Two Generations

Where some floats traffic in spectacle alone, the Alliance has built its recent entries around narrative specificity. The 2026 float features four elephants from the Safari Park herd by name: Swazi, the matriarch; her daughter Nisa; and Umngani with her daughter Mkhaya.

“Swazi is the matriarch of the herd we have the honor of caring for at the Safari Park, and her daughter Nisa, along with Umngani and her daughter Mkhaya, all celebrate the giant strides we make together for conservation each and every day,” Miller said.

Umngani and Mkhaya carry particular resonance. Earlier this year, when an earthquake struck, the herd formed a protective “alert circle”—a behavioral display of collective defense that drew international attention. The float’s design references that instinct, describing elephants as “architects of the earth” who carve corridors across the savanna for people and wildlife alike.

A Global Stage, Precisely Timed

The parade broadcasts to 210 countries, and the Alliance has learned to treat that reach strategically. The 2026 float doubles as a preview for Elephant Valley, a new Safari Park experience opening weeks later.

“Our depiction of the Safari Park’s elephant herd at the Rose Parade will inspire excitement and anticipation for the unforgettable experience awaiting guests at Elephant Valley when it opens,” said Shawn Dixon, the Alliance’s interim president and chief executive officer, when announcing the float in October.

Miller framed the annual appearance as institutional ritual. “The Rose Parade is a special opportunity to begin each year celebrating our conservation efforts,” he said.

Five Years, Three Trophies

The streak began modestly. In 2022, the Alliance returned to the parade after a gap; a year later, “Celebrating 50 Years of Conservation” earned the Animation Award. Then came consecutive Sweepstakes wins: “It Began With a Roar” in 2024, honoring the San Diego Zoo’s 107-year history through a towering rendering of Rex the lion, and “Friendship Across the Earth” in 2025, celebrating giant pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao after their arrival from China.

The 2026 entry marks five consecutive appearances—a partnership Miller described as generative beyond the trophies themselves.

“The partnership we’ve shared with the Tournament of Roses over the past five years has brought together countless volunteers, team members, and allies—amplifying our organizational missions here in Southern California and across our communities worldwide,” he said. “We look forward to many continued successes and this special partnership with the Tournament for years to come.”

The 137th Rose Parade, themed “The Magic in Teamwork,” steps off January 1, 2026, in Pasadena. Judges will score floats on creative design, floral craftsmanship, artistic merit, computerized animation, thematic interpretation, floral and color presentation, and dramatic impact.

Whether the Alliance extends its run or yields to a new winner, the organization has already reshaped expectations for what a conservation nonprofit can accomplish on a five-and-a-half-mile stretch of Colorado Boulevard.

The float is designed and built by Artistic Entertainment Services, an Azusa-based firm that has collaborated with the Alliance on its 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 entries.