Sierra Madre’s Self-Built Float Brings Mariachi Magic to Rose Parade

A small California town’s all-volunteer organization is set to showcase its entirely self-built, mariachi-themed float at the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade, highlighting community craftsmanship.

The Sierra Madre Rose Float Association, continuing its tradition of self-built entries chosen through annual community contests, will present its creation on New Year’s Day.

The Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea, an all-female mariachi band, will perform live during the parade atop the community-crafted float.

The design integrates elements celebrating family and community spirit, with a floral fountain, dancing couples, and a festive succulent garden featuring papel picado flags.

Behind the association’s title sign, a memorial garden patch displays commemorative vials holding High and Magic roses, leading visitors along a winding pathway.

Approximately 37,000 flowers will adorn the float, including 14,000 roses, while the fountain showcases iris, string of pearls, dendrobium orchids, and delicate delphiniums.

The succulent garden incorporates protea, decorative kale, croton, gravalia, bird of paradise, alongside purple, blue, lavender and pink statice, and yellow strawflower.

Natural materials include rice, onion seed, dried marigolds, walnut shells, millet, mixed seeds, and ground red wheat, with melaleuca and local Sierra Madre sycamore bark.

The float’s archway, decorated with oatmeal, spices and grapevine accents, frames trees displaying mokara and oncidium orchids as backdrop for the mariachi performance.

Standing 20 feet tall, 19 feet wide, and 43 feet long, this year’s entry follows celebrated past designs like the “Enchanted Music Box,” maintaining Sierra Madre’s parade legacy.

The Sierra Madre Rose Float Association maintains a dedicated float barn where community members can observe the building and decoration process through a viewing gallery.

The float embodies the parade’s celebratory spirit, bringing out “the child in all of us,” as it joins the procession through Pasadena on Jan. 1, 2025.