Yvette Seltz and I have given you our views from the float but I wanted to highlight what happens behind the scenes and all the preparation that goes into the Rose Parade. I invited Lynn Gast, LHM Float Committee Petal Pushers Chairman to share her story here:

Since the mid-80’s, Petal Pushers have come from all over the U.S. to decorate not only the Lutheran Hour Ministries float but other floats in the parade. For the 2017 Parade, over 4,500 Petal Pushers worked on seven floats. The value of this labor of love offsets a large portion of the cost of the Lutheran Hour Ministries float.

Petal Pushers work for a day, two days, or perhaps for the whole week leading up to the parade, which takes place on New Year’s Day (on January 2 if the first falls on a Sunday). Anyone 13 years or older can be a Petal Pusher. Some come as a group with their church, as a family unit, with their youth group or on their own. Once there, the Petal Pusher decorates the float in a variety of ways. Some do more detailed work with seeds, bark, or parts of flowers. Some actually push the tiny vials that hold a delicate flower into the polyvinyl material covering the float. Every inch of the float must be covered by natural materials. Sometimes there is a special call for volunteers who don’t mind being high up on the scaffolding. Sometimes there’s a call for people to prepare the flowers in the flower tent.

Often the Petal Pushers work alongside other volunteers on other floats providing many Christian witnessing opportunities. On Sundays, a church service is held next to the LHM float, and all who work in the building are welcome to join. AWs Petal Pushers check in for their shift we often remind them of the song, “They Will Know we are Christians by our Love.” That’s why these Petal Pushers come: to be a witness not just by preparing the float that will broadcast a message of God’s love to the world, but to be loving witnesses to those they work with in the Rose Palaces.

The Lutheran Hour Ministries Float Committee received an invitation to be in the 2018 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, for the 68th time.  The Theme of the 2018 Parade is “Making a Difference.”

On Saturday, January 21st, while The LHM Float Committee was celebrating their past year’s efforts, they voted to accept the Tournament’s invitation and are beginning the process all over again to have a strong Christian Message to the World on New Year’s Day 2018.

Thank you to Yvette Seltz and Lynn Gast for sharing their stories about the Rose Parade. Join me next week as I discuss Valentines Day.

Pictured below Lynn and Dick Gast