Hometown Glory: The Redfox Family Rose Parade Floats

The wonderful process of designing, creating, and admiring floats for the Pasadena Tournament of the Roses.

January 31, 2023

For years, San Dimas’ own Dr. Monica Redfox and her family have built and decorated floats to grace the Rose Parade. While accolades are not a new concept for the float-building family, the triumph of the 2023 Pasadena Tournament of the Roses, known commonly as the Rose Parade, is the culmination of hard work, dedication, and the Redfox Family’s eye for design. 

Redfox’s husband, Jason, is the main muscle of this operation. “When he was seven, his Grandpa took him, for the first time, to decorate the Downey Rose Floats,” Redfox says. This moment sparked a love and drive within him, with Jason eventually working his way up into the main builder, designer, and floral arrangement, although the whole family gets involved in the latter process. 

The entire process of designing, constructing, and decorating parade floats is arduous. “[Jason] has already started making next year’s float,” Redfox said. Quite literally, within the week following the parade, float-makers begin the design and mockup process for creation during the summer. 

2023’s DRFA Float, “Bee Inspired!” (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

How the designs are created, though, has a special Saint-sourced influence. Out of the 30 floats Jason Redfox designed for the Downey Rose Float Association (DRFA), many were inspired by his wife, Monica. “His last float, the bee float, he’s been wanting to design that since I became a beekeeper around 5 years ago,” she said.

She has been the inarguable muse for many of Jason’s designs. Some years ago on a vacation to Kauai, a tropical paradise prompted that year’s theme. “I was sitting in this beautiful waterfall pool and I leaned my head back and saw these gorgeous yellow and white birds,” Redfox reminisces. That picturesque vista inspired a gorgeously lush float, adorned with remnants of that idyllic scene, designed for the Sierra Madre Rose Float Association. 

Ka La Hiki Ola, inspired by the Kauaian landscape

While the design process starts fresh into the new year, construction doesn’t begin until around June. DRFA is a completely volunteer-based coalition of hard-working individuals. Their organization relies almost entirely on donations and the goodwill of others. Members begin “welding, bending steel wire, and making the base” during the Summer months, Redfox explains, the aptly named Decorating Week, the whole Redfox Clan, among many others, is when the decoration process begins. While being “extremely busy,” which is putting it lightly, Redfox calls this “the fun part.” Here, the main floral arrangements and final touches are added. 

Decorating Week has turned into a family affair for the Redfoxes. “When we starting dating, [..] he took me to the floats as a second date, basically saying ‘This is what I do,’” Monica recalls. Since then, she’s been a part of this wonderfully rewarding operation. Since starting out adding minor details, Dr. Redfox has worked her way up into the main floral designer of these floats. 

Their stellar floats have not gone unnoticed by the Pasadena Tournament of the Roses’ judges. Categories and criteria are split into two main groups: commercial and self-built. DRFA’s floats are put into the former category, unfortunately excluding them from the sweepstakes. And yet “out of the 30 floats [Jason] has designed, like, 25 of them have won awards,” Redfox praises. In fact, 2023’s “Bee Inspired!” won the Leishman Public Spirit Award, an accolade rewarding the greatest non-commercial floral arrangements. This honor is considered to be one of the most prestigious in the Tournament. 

Hardworking volunteers who participated in the “Bee Inspired Paint Night.”

“[Everybody] should decorate a float at least once or help out during Decorating Week,” Redfox encourages. For most, this entire process is a novel one. Judging, the logistics, the designing, and the creation of parade floats are not well-known concepts. But, seeing the tangible manifestation of hours of hard work, careful planning, stellar design work, and the love added by volunteers on television, displayed for the entirety of the United States to watch in awe is an unbeatable experience. “You’ll fall in love with it,” Redfox says. 

Donate to the Downey Rose Float Association here and sign up to volunteer during Decorating Week here.

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