Rose Parade 2012: How To Watch The Pasadena Rose Parade

The 2012 Rose Parade, which takes place on Monday, January 2nd in accordance with the "Never On A Sunday" tradition, steps off at 8am PST.

Southern Californians who make the trek to watch the parade in person face traffic, limited parking and limited space along the 5.5 mile parade route -- but that won't stop the approximately 700,000 people who are expected to make it out there. The OC Register's infographic guide to the Rose Parade notes that parking "is a nightmare," but that savvy spectators would be wise to park on Pasadena streets starting at noon the day before the parade. The parade steps off on South Orange Grove Boulevard and Green Street and then marches east on Colorado Boulevard. The parade ends by turning north on Sierra Madre Boulevard and stopping at Villa Street. Check out a list of street closures related to the Rose Parade.

The rest of us can watch live coverage of the events on KTLA (which is also doing a live feed online), and East Coast viewers can catch it on local ABC and NBC stations from 11am to 1pm EST. National channels covering the parade include the Hallmark Channel, Home & Garden and Univision, according to the SF Examiner.

As for those who are interested in this year's unofficial float, Gigaom reports that Spencer Mills will be broadcasting Occupy The Rose Parade online. Details to be announced on Mill's twitter feed.

Leading the parade in its 123rd year is Grand Marshall J.R. Martinez, a military veteran turned inspirational speaker and actor (and the 2011 champion of Dancing With The Stars). In a press conference on Friday, Martinez expressed both gratitude and disbelief about his role in the upcoming parade. "It's really going to be amazing... I think that's really going to hit me in an emotional way," he said. "To think, here I am bringing in 2012 in such an unbelievable way."

Rose Queen Drew Washington also joins the parade, where she will appear with six rose princesses: Morgan Eliza Devaud, Stephanie Grace Hynes, Cynthia Megan Louie, Kimberly Victoria Ostiller, Hanan Bulto Worku and Sarah Nicole Zuno. Richard Jackson, president of the Tournament of Roses, praised this year's royal court, saying, "We are so honored to have them as a part of our Tournament of Roses family. These beautiful, smart and poised young ladies have been and will continue to be excellent ambassadors of the Tournament of Roses."

Stay tuned to the Huffington Post for more coverage of the 2012 Rose Parade.

Preparing For The Parade

In the slideshow below, volunteers work on the Everybody Walk float, a caterpillar with a walking stick and compass. Organizers at EverybodyWalks.org want parade-goers to know the health benefits of walking: the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other diseases are decreased, and years can be added to a life with a regular walking routine.

All photos by Deborah Zeitman/EveryBodyWalk.org. Captions by Jason Evans.

Comments

[Mardukk]

04:37 PM on 01/03/2012

You can park a block or 2 away at 6 AM, and be in the fourth row (bring your own chair) at certain midway points. It's so plastic on TV, but cool in person. The few staged performances for TV, although not nearly as many or as sickening as the Macy's T-Day Parade, should be banned.

[jannas2cents]

12:03 PM on 01/03/2012

"How to watch the Rose Bowl Parade"? Are you kidding me? Are instructions required to WATCH a parade, either in person or on TV? I expected the "instructions" to include "uncover your eyes" or "face forward in the direction of the parade" or "turn on the TV". Where do they get these writers anyway? This is so STUPID it's infuriating.

[ennui the third]

06:48 AM on 01/03/2012

How to watch this spectacle?....reach for your remote and turn it off....

[Whatdoyou thinkof this]

06:53 PM on 01/02/2012

Why is the parade not held on a Sunday... Here's why...

" . . . according to the Tournament of Roses Association Web site, this "Never on Sunday" policy was instituted in order "to avoid frightening horses tethered outside local churches and thus interfering with worship services.

[v98max]

05:33 PM on 01/02/2012

I would say TiVo it and alternate between single and double fast forward.

[arkangelsusa]

04:43 PM on 01/02/2012

The Rose Parade is the most intersting of them all!!! Its awesome and we got one more day off!!! I saw it loved it and went to it once before. The marching bands so loud and strong made me cry I loved it and the feeling being there is like Heaven. Totally naturally euphoric!!!!! I live near pasadena and to be there to see it is a real euphric experience. The bands the people the Floats and all that amazing work and how the hell do the organise some with so many people in it!!!! Its alot of work of beauty for all of us to enjoy!!!! Happy New Year to all of Year.

[hyaofcr]

08:00 PM on 01/02/2012

Sounds awesome! I shall put it on my bucket list! Happy New Year!

[Primesuspect]

02:21 PM on 01/02/2012

Stay caffeinated. How do people sit and watch this stuff - and all the ads that accompany? Next worst thing: ballgames themselves.

[MyrtleJune]

12:20 PM on 01/02/2012

If they can't do it on new year's day, they should just skip that year all together. Never on a Sunday is probably more a deal with the nfl than any "tradition".

I'm skipping it. They kinda ruined new year's day. It wasn't special and it was yesterday. Keep your parade.

[JScott]

08:27 AM on 01/02/2012

How To Watch The Pasadena Rose Parade

Record it and watch it later, sans the commercials. you can watch 3 hours in 1/2 hour.

[mysto99]

10:34 PM on 01/01/2012

..and oh yes...there was at one time only 4-big New Year Bowls.. then an extra two... Gator, Peach....eventually now this year.. 23..? A football team can get a bowl invitation if they have a 5-5 or 6-6 record. Not a losing record for the year..but not a winning record either. Didn't Conn. lose money on unsold Bowl tickets sales last year and said that's ok.."the publicity for their football team was worth it". However this year attendance is way down for football , and not too many new wonderful recruits for them in their Big East Conference that is falling apart.

[mysto99]

10:24 PM on 01/01/2012

Yeah.... I know the Parade is a great tradition....the float people write it off as a tax break...and local florists make a lot of their money that way, and California $$$ from the tourists... but golly..wouldn't that money be spent on some other wonderful event..like giving it to the poor? Naaaa, that wouldn't work. That wouldn't be very popular. No hype.

[Whatdoyou thinkof this]

10:25 AM on 01/02/2012

Oh stop it. Stop bashing the very companies that make it possible for the "non-poor" to enjoy something for free. It's not just about giving, giving, giving, to those that have less (which will always be the case), it's about making it a better world for ALL of us.

To the OWS - get a job. Support your families, and go do some volunteer work that will make a difference rather than complaining about the rest of us that are doing just that.

[mysto99]

06:29 PM on 01/02/2012

That you and I don't agree is fine. Now you stop it. That whacking the other guy here because I have a great point to make and you don't agree with me, the bottom line, as the big bizness guys say. the money could be spent on better things of acompolishment. . because that is all I have heard from everybody where I live here on the East coast. To those that do the Parade and great big Rose Bowl, that only invite teams from two conferences..out there in sunny west coast California... well, go for it. have fun, ..even though many people think it is a waste of time who never watch it, or only maybe 3 minutes. It sounds like to me, if someone doesn't agree with you..you jump right on them with what you just know is right. Oh sure.

[Whatdoyou thinkof this]

06:54 PM on 01/02/2012

BTW... how much money or time to do give to the poor ? You are suggesting that others should be doing so.... how about you ?

[mysto99]

07:11 PM on 01/02/2012

I do it. 10% to my church, to keep it going,keep the utilities on,pay the pastor.....and handouts to those poor that I see now and then. Try it..":hey, I think you just dropped this?" Try it..and watch the expression. Especially those you know right away that can use it.

[luvthyneighbor]

04:50 PM on 01/01/2012

Cannot wait for the game! Goooooo Ducks!!!

[Primesuspect]

02:23 PM on 01/02/2012

Game's more boring than that parade ...

[sandrita mason]

04:44 PM on 01/01/2012

When will Rose Parade officials abandon their antiquated "No Sunday" rule? The capitulation to Christian churches doesn't fly anymore. Stores now open on Sunday, sports events are held on Sunday, and people go to work on Sunday. Lots of people will not watch the parade on Monday because they're back to normal working or going to school. I, for one, don't have much interest watching a New Years Day parade on the day after. So, I won't watch it.

[mlaiuppa]

04:53 PM on 01/01/2012

If it's broadcast from 11 am to 1 pm, there are still enough people that attend church that they can not watch it on TV or attend it in person. I guess they figure more people have Monday off (which they don't).

And it was supposed to be on HGTV. How many people don't have cable? I looked for it when I got up this morning and didn't see it, so I ended up watching Lifetime.

[IndependentAndProud]

07:37 PM on 01/01/2012

"And it was supposed to be on HGTV. How many people don't have cable? I looked for it when I got up this morning and didn't see it, so I ended up watching Lifetime."

You'll be able to find the parade on TV tomorrow, which is when it's being held. And you'll find it on ABC and NBC.

[DanSc]

11:57 PM on 01/01/2012

Hate to break it to you, but the No Sunday rule comes from accommodating an entity bigger than God...The NFL.

The Rose Parade will always be on the same day as the Rose Bow Game, and that game won't try to compete with the NFL.

[ericonthewing]

12:12 AM on 01/02/2012

It don't matter WHAT the reason is, makes no sense... lose the STUPID tradition.­.. they should start a NEW tradition: "Always on Jan 1st NEW YEARS DAY - on the HOLIDAY - for ALL to see" !!!!!!!!!!­!!!

(Umm according to "TV guide" it says "123rd Tournament of Roses Parade" starts at 8am and supposedly ends at 10 am, in case you didn't know NFL football doesn't start 'til 10am so your argument about trying not to compete w/ the NFL doesn't work)

[IndependentAndProud]

02:17 AM on 01/02/2012

Hate to break it to you, but the policy regarding no parade on Sundays is more than 100 years old, which was before there was an NFL...definitely before television...and certainly long before the NFL would have had that kind of influence on networks.

[sGennawey]

03:07 PM on 01/01/2012

Welcome to Pasadena. Leave a little bit of money so we can finish picking up the trees that fell down a few weeks ago. Thank you.

[IndependentAndProud]

07:28 PM on 01/01/2012

Thank you!

[RhiannonRings]

08:34 PM on 01/01/2012

Still a big mess here in So. Pas. too..

[camanokat]

03:02 PM on 01/01/2012

When I was a kid, we'd always go view the floats after the parade...they are amazing!