City Council requests financial support for Downey Rose Float

Downey could soon subsidize the Downey Rose Float Association. Photo by Alex Dominguez.

DOWNEY – The non-profit Downey Rose Float Association may be in line to receive financial subsidies from Downey taxpayers, according to comments made at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The Downey Rose Float Association raises tens of thousands of dollars annually to build and enter a float into the Tournament of Roses Parade, traditionally held on New Year’s Day in Pasadena.

The organization, however, has struggled to raise funds since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, council members said.

“These floats are put together entirely by volunteers and this is entirely a self-funded float. It costs anywhere between $60,000 to $85,000 to put together this float,” Councilwoman Claudia M. Frometa said Tuesday. “As the 10th largest city of Los Angeles [County] and a city whose motto is ‘Future Unlimited,’ it really is time for us to reconsider looking at where we are with the support for this organization.

“The last two years have been really detrimental to their fundraising efforts because there have been no public gatherings and those $60,000 to $85,000 that they fund have been greatly diminished by that.

“We are not asking for the entire funding but I am making the public aware that it is really an opportunity for our city to step up. Many of the cities that participate in the Rose Float Parade do fund their floats, at least a portion of it. I think we, as a city, should consider that as well.”

It’s unclear if the Downey Rose Float Association requested financial assistance from the city or if council members initiated the idea on their own.

Councilman Mario Trujillo called the Downey Rose Float “a feather in our cap here in Downey” and requested that a motion to provide financial help be placed on an upcoming council agenda “sooner rather than later.”

“Their fundraising efforts in the last two years have been deeply hindered by the pandemic so I would like to see if we can assist them perhaps this year because they’re starting to prepare for [next] year’s entry,” Trujillo said.

Councilman Donald La Plante said Downey is at risk of being permanently removed from the parade if it’s unable to produce an entry.

“I do appreciate the fact that Downey is one of I believe six cities that has a self-done Rose Float and they don’t take those in anymore,” La Plante said. “We’re grandfathered in. We get to stay as long as we have a float. We stop having a float, we’re never getting back. So I think that’s an important thing we need to realize.”