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<\/p>\nAs a steady rain pounded the famed Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena early Thursday, Michael Brooks manned a clutch of lawn chairs and hunched beneath a daisy-printed umbrella as he guarded his family\u2019s front-row seats for the 137th Rose Parade.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old Monterey Park resident clasped a cup of hot chocolate. Despite the deluge, he smiled. <\/p>\n
It was his first time attending the Rose Parade in person, he said. Why wouldn\u2019t he be happy? <\/p>\n
\u201cI was not going to miss this opportunity,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cI had to be right here, front row, for my mother-in-law, for my wife, for my kids,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Rose Parade, which kicked off at 8 a.m. Thursday, is the first in 20 years to take place in the rain. <\/p>\n
It is just the 11th rainy Rose Parade since the event \u2014 meant to showcase Southern California\u2019s mild winters \u2014 began in 1890.<\/p>\n
As of 4 a.m. Thursday, the storm system had already dumped 1.12 inches of rain on eastern Pasadena over the last two days, according to the National Weather Service. Downtown Los Angeles had received 0.94 inches. Rain with a chance of thunderstorms will continue throughout the morning, forecasters said. <\/p>\n
Hard-core parade fans camped overnight along the route, huddling beneath building awnings and raincoats as they rang in the new year. <\/p>\n
They inluded Tracy Tankersley, who welcomed 2026 by guarding 15 lawn chairs on Colorado Boulevard all night. <\/p>\n
It was, in essence, a family reunion. Tankersley drove from San Diego on Wednesday with her son and son-in-law to join her mother on the route. Her other son, his wife, and their five children came from Colorado. <\/p>\n
Tankersley held out hope for dry skies, despite the forecasts. When rain threatened in years past, the sun always came out just in time. <\/p>\n
This year, though, \u201cit proved me wrong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When she and her family camp out, they\u2019re usually surrounded by spectators packing the route, laying on mattresses, sharing stories around fire pits. This year, Tankersley spent the frigid night alone, dozing off briefly while the rest of her family snoozed in nearby vehicles. <\/p>\n
She said it \u201cwas a different Rose,\u201d but still an experience to remember. <\/p>\n
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Volunteers decorate Kermit the Frog on the Visit Mississippi \u201cWhere Creativity Blooms\u201d float in the run up to the Rose Parade. <\/p>\n
(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Once the parade got going, thousands of people lined the route. <\/p>\n
Shortly before 7 a.m., revelers in raincoats shuffled into prime parade-viewing position on a bridge above the 134 Freeway.<\/p>\n
Roni Jones and her mother, Cheryl Conley, of Altadena, said they fondly remember the last time it rained on the parade in 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople come together and make it happen and make it work,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of local excitement, and then there\u2019s the excitement of the football game. … When they said it\u2019s gonna rain? We don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The women said they were proud graduates of John Muir High School in Pasadena \u2014 Jones, Class of 1986; Conley, Class of 1966 \u2014 and that the parade, thankfully, has not changed much since those days. <\/p>\n
The event was a bright spot after a difficult year. Conley lost her longtime house in the Eaton fire, which destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena, just a few miles north of the parade route. But she was joyful on New Year\u2019s Day, and grateful for \u201cthe support that we\u2019ve had from the community, just the love and care.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before the parade began Thursday, a small group of women from the San Fernando Valley donned ponchos and dragged blue coolers containing some 600 tamales along Colorado Boulevard.<\/p>\n
It was their first year to sell food at the Rose Parade, said Kayla Montes, 22, of Pacoima.<\/p>\n
Their $5 tamales were selling well amid the chill. The women woke up at 2 a.m. and said they were happily energetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect to still sell out today,\u201d Montes said.<\/p>\n
The parade is expected to last around two hours. Roads along the parade route that were closed<\/a> Wednesday night, will reopen by 2 p.m. Thursday. <\/p>\n The 605 All Star Band performs in the 2025 Rose Bowl Parade along Colorado Boulevard, in Pasadena, on Jan. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n (Ringo Chiu\/Ringo Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Typically, New Year\u2019s Day is rain-free in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n According to<\/a> the National Weather Service, rain has fallen on just 10% of all New Year\u2019s Days between 1878 and 2025. In 1934, it rained 3.12 inches in Pasadena \u2014 the most ever on the holiday. That was also the year it rained more than one inch on the first day of the year in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n The Weather Service has predicted 1.53 inches on Thursday.<\/p>\n The Rose Parade started in 1890 as a promotional event by the Valley Hunt Club, a social organization, to show off Pasadena\u2019s famously mild winter weather.<\/p>\n \u201cIn New York, people are buried in snow. Here, our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let\u2019s hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise,\u201d Charles F. Holder, one of the parade\u2019s originators, said at one of the club\u2019s meetings as the parade was being planned for the first time, according to the Tournament of Roses.<\/p>\n The earliest \u201cfloats\u201d were horse-drawn carriages adorned with flowers.<\/p>\n The last time it rained during the parade was in 2006, and that was only the 10th time in the event\u2019s history, The Times reported<\/a> then. Four floats \u2014 from the cities of Burbank and Sierra Madre, the Walt Disney Co., and Trader Joe\u2019s \u2014 broke down amid the wet conditions. <\/p>\n This year\u2019s parade theme is \u201cThe Magic in Teamwork,\u201d and the parade marshal will be Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers legend and billionaire businessman<\/a> who is a co-owner of the Dodgers, Sparks and other professional sports franchises. <\/p>\n Along the route, Johnson peeked out of a vintage vehicle adorned with floral basketballs. The vehicle\u2019s top was up, but he stuck his hand out the open window to wave. <\/p>\n Some spectators found clever ways of keeping dry. <\/p>\n Jeff Landis of Glendale, 44, fashioned two heavy-duty trash bags as an extra hydrophobic layer for his two children.<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine a sickness might go around after today,\u201d Landis said. He laughed as the kids waddled in black bags behind him. \u201cGotta stay dry.\u201d<\/p>\n A vintage Disneyland vehicle rolled toward the front of the parade, with Minnie Mouse clad in a red-and-white polka dot dress and Mickey sporting a tuxedo with a yellow bowtie. They were joined by dozens of military veterans who now work as Disney cast members, who strolled along in ponchos and Minnie ears. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767288008_371_.jpeg\")
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