If you like to get up bright and early New Year's Day and watch the Rose Parade, then HGTV has you covered.
Granted, it's in Pasadena, Calif., and it's not really all that early, but if you stay out to the wee hours celebrating New Year's Eve, anything before noon is going to seem too early.
You can also watch the parade live on ABC, NBC, Hallmark and Univision, but HGTV seems to have the most fun and promises to showcase every float, equestrian unit and marching band live and uninterrupted.
The festivities will begin at 10 a.m Friday with Rose Parade 2016, hosted by Drew and Jonathan Scott from the HGTV series Property Brothers, along with entertainment journalist Nancy O'Dell.
Josh Temple, host of DIY Network's House Crashers, will offer street-side perspectives and spectator interviews from the parade route.
"We just can't seem to get enough of the Rose Parade, so we're returning as hosts for the third time," Drew said.
"You can expect all the same fun we've had in the past," Jonathan added. "Let's hope that this year Drew worked on his floral pronunciations."
Pronouncing stuff such as, "The anemone genus is part of the ranunculaceae family."
The 5 1/2-mile Rose Parade features three types of entries: floral-decorated floats sponsored by a participating corporation or community organization, equestrian units and marching bands. Many of the parade's participating organizations have been with the Tournament of Roses for years.
The only cars that appear in the parade are those that carry the grand marshal, the mayor of Pasadena, the Rose Bowl game Hall of Fame inductees and the Tournament of Roses president.
The parade will feature 20 marching bands from across the United States as well as Guatemala, Japan and Mexico. Bands are selected on a variety of criteria including musicianship, marching ability and "entertainment or special interest value," whatever that means.
For the 127th Rose Parade, the theme is "Find Your Adventure," a collaboration between the Tournament of Roses and the National Park Service. The goal is to highlight the centennial celebration of our nation's national parks.
I'm not sure if the full impact of parade floats comes through on a TV screen, but they'll try. This year there will be 44 of them vying for your attention.
The Float Entries Committee oversees the float selection, with the organization's executive committee having final approval. Float participants pay an entry fee and are then responsible for all costs related to design, construction and decoration.
Applications come in up to a year in advance of the parade and the Tournament of Roses Association, which stages the parade and the Rose Bowl, strives to keep a balance among corporate, civic, nonprofit and international entries.
The entry fee for a business or commercial enterprise is $16,500; noncommercial organizations pay $5,500.
That's chump change compared to the construction bill for a float. According to the association, construction costs typically average $250,000. It's no wonder many of the floats are professionally built by the four Tournament-approved float builders in the Pasadena area.
Is it worth it? You bet. Your flowered, rolling advertisement will be seen by an estimated 43 million U.S. households and another 28 million abroad.
In addition to the usual entrants, there will be floats representing No. 5 Iowa and No. 6 Stanford, the two teams playing in this year's Rose Bowl. The kickoff, if you care, is at 4 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
Here's a sampling of the floats set for the parade:
AIDS Healthcare Foundation; American Honda; The Bachelor (yep, the TV show); California Milk Advisory Board; China Airlines; the cities of Alhambra, Glendale, Hope, Los Angeles, Torrance, Irvine, Downey and La Canada Flintridge, Calif.; Disneyland Resort; Dole Packaged Foods; Farmers Insurance Group; Los Angeles Lakers; Miracle-Gro; Public Broadcasting Service; and the South Dakota Department of Tourism.
And keep an eye out for the Tournament of Roses 2016 Royal Court. Perched atop that float will be lovely 17-year-old Erika Karen Winter, the 98th Rose Queen, and her six lovely Rose Princesses.
Erika will be wearing a Mikimoto crown featuring more than 600 cultured pearls and six carats of diamonds. Erika enjoys singing, acting, spin-cycling and watching hockey and was chosen over more than 900 Pasadena-area young women who participated in the Royal Court tryouts.
Style on 12/27/2015