The Tournament of Roses Parade-- Part 2: History (Which Came First, the Parade or Game?)

It (the parade) all started 125 years ago when the American West, especially California, was still largely unknown to folks back east and the Hunt Valley Club organized the first Rose Parade and held it on New Year's Day in 1890 as a way to promote the blooms and beauty os Pasadena, California.

This was a way to show to people in the snowy Northeast and Midwest (no kidding, there was a half-inch on the ground yesterday morning and then it started snowing yesterday afternoon about 4 and is snowing right now. Last night, I used the snowblower on 4-5 inches.) how great it was out there.

For the first parade, members of the fox hunting and social club twined roses around the spokes of horse carriage wheels and through their horses' tails and manes. They also had foot races, polo matches and a tug-of-war.

New Year's Day was picked to have it as it is a time full of hope and aspiration for the year ahead.

Right off the bat, this was a popular event and in 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to manage it.

Early tournaments featured chariot races, ostrich races and once even a race between an elephant and camel. All that was replaced by a football game which became an annual tradition starting in 1916. This year's Michigan State-Stanford games marks the 100th fgame, although one, in 1942, was held in Durham, North Carolina, coming as it did within weeks of Pearl Harbor.

I wrote about in posts on this blog.

So, There's Your Answer. --Cooter