Cal Poly float wins Extraordinaire Award at the 134th Rose Parade

Cal Poly received the Extraordinaire Award on Monday for its float at the 134th Rose Parade in Pasadena.

The “Road to Reclamation” float featured animated snails, gigantic toadstools and other marvels of the natural world that can be found on the forest floor, a Cal Poly news release said.

The float was the join creation of students from both Cal Poly campuses in San Luis Obispo and Pomona.

It was adorned with at least 20,000 flowers and natural materials such as slices of fresh produce like oranges and eggplants.

The Extraordinaire Award is granted to the creators of the parade’s most extraordinary float, including those 55 feet or bigger, the release said. The 2023 Rose Parade is the second time the Cal Poly universities have received the Extraordinaire Award. They also won for “Far Out Frequencies” at the 2019 parade.

“Our student float builders combine the best of NASA innovation and ingenuity with the gee-whiz enthusiasm of a Broadway show; I couldn’t be prouder of them and their justly acclaimed reputation as dreamers, designers and float builders,” Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said from the parade in the release. “’Road to Reclamation’ not only represents our students and their teammates from Pomona — it represents our Learn by Doing education to the world in a gorgeous holiday bouquet.”

Tournament of Roses president Amy Wainscott presented the awards at around 6 a.m., about two hours before the start of the parade.

“I am so proud of everyone on this team and all the hard work they put into making this happen,” Cal Poly San Luis Obispo team president Annie Doody said around the time the awards were announced, the release said.

Cal Poly SLO, Pomona students came together to build the Rose Parade float

More than 70 students, split evenly between the Pomona and San Luis Obispo universities, participated in bringing the vision for the “Road to Reclamation” float to life, along with hundreds of volunteers who helped on a drop-in basis over the year, the release said.

The original concept for the “Road to Reclamation” float was submitted by Cal Poly SLO mechanical engineering student Benjamino Cruz. The theme of the 2023 Rose Parade was “Turning the Corner,” celebrating the potential of the new year.

The Cal Poly float showcased the theme of rebirth and renewal with its design capturing the revitalization of a forest floor.

“I think just the composition of it. It looks like a painting from every angle. I’m incredibly proud,” Cruz said in the release.

On Monday, Cruz was one of four unseen operators who helped move the float through the parade, along with three other students who helped make sure the moving parts don’t overheat, the release said.

The float featured three animated snails, with one devouring a leaf and another riding a toadstool that reached 25 feet in the air. Three baby snails chased one another in a circle along a branch with three ladybugs opening their wings as if preparing to fly.

“Every Cal Poly float through the years has started as a simple spark of an idea that must be brought to life using skills learned in classrooms and labs, from computers and engineering to growing flowers,” Armstrong said. “Students then put that knowledge into action with true grit — grinding, pounding and welding steel and machining parts, testing and retesting the mechanics, and finally burnishing the yearlong effort with the softness of an artist’s palette of floral color.”

The 2023 Rose Parade is the 74th time Cal Poly universities participated in the contest, garnering 62 awards for their floats over the years, the release said.

An estimated 700,000 attendees turned out to see the parade, along with millions more who tuned in to the televised broadcast.