Local women ‘push petals,’ help homeless
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POLSON — With a name like petal pushers, people of a certain age could misunderstand and think of capri pants.
But Kathy Scott of Polson can explain about Petal Pushers.
It’s a volunteer organization of more than 4,000 people who decorate the Lutheran Hour float and other floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.
Scott and friend Jane Patterson volunteered this year. Their first day of work in the flower barns was Dec. 29.
The infrastructure of the floats is covered with a papier-mâché kind of material, according to Scott. Crews come in and put all the dry materials, seeds, seed pods, dried flowers, grasses, etc., onto the floats, but Scott was one of the first volunteers to put live material on the structures.
The floats are color coded, and the crew chief has a book listing which flowers go where. The petal pushers stick the vials of flowers into the color-coded covering.
Every square inch of a float must be covered in flowers or other natural materials, such as rice or bark. More than 500,000 roses in vials are used in the parade.
“We used lots of yellow roses on the front of the Los Angeles city float,” Scott said. “Another float was a combination of red gerbera daises, pinkish-red carnations and red roses to create texture.”
Scott said she also glued split peas on a crocodile head while her friend was up on 15-foot scaffolding constructing a giraffe’s mane for the Asset Management float.
The crew chief even called one night at 10 p.m. and asked for volunteers since the City of Los Angeles float was not done. So 10 volunteers in two cars went to work on the float and stayed until 2:30 a.m.
Scott’s group stayed in El Segundo, about 45 miles from Pasadena, in a private home, and commuted via rental car — the traffic was a shock compared to Mission Valley traffic.
“But we did other things besides work on the floats,” Scott said.
Their trip organizer had befriended a couple who work with homeless people and Scott and her group accompanied the couple into downtown Los Angeles. They passed out hygiene kits, socks, underwear and Bibles. The homeless people they met also appreciated reusable grocery bags and suitcases.
They followed basic safety rules, such as buddying up and not wearing expensive jewelry.
“We were encouraged to sit down and talk with the homeless people while they were eating,” Scott said.
Scott first got interested in the project when she went on a tour of the Rose Parade barns five years ago, which included working for half a day pushing petals and then sight-seeing.
The next year, Scott returned and spent more time petal pushing and visiting the homeless. In 2013, she went because her friend Jane Patterson, a retired florist, wanted the experience.
“People ask me why am I doing this. I say, ‘I’m meeting lots of different people, I get to see the Rose Parade again and (I enjoy the) hard work,’” Scott said.
In 1890, members of Pasadena’s Valley Hunt Club staged the first Tournament of Roses Parade with flower-decorated horse carriages. Since then the parade has been held in Pasadena every New Year’s Day, except when Jan. 1 falls on a Sunday. In that case, it is held on the subsequent Monday, Jan. 2.
