LMU Rose Parade float entry celebrates school's centennial

Alumni volunteers Wende Hernandez and her husband Cubie work on the facade of a flowered replica of the Loyola Marymount University Sacred Heart Chapel on the Rose parade float the school is entering to mark its 100th anniversary. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

By the time Shirley Griffin's eight-day Southern California vacation is done, the New Canaan, Conn., resident will have used half of it pulling grueling unpaid eight-hour shifts with dozens of strangers.

The mother of Loyola Marymount University junior Leslie Griffin, 20, spent much of Wednesday 15 feet in the air meticulously applying crushed rice to a reproduction of the campus chapel.

By day's end Griffin was tired. Her arms and shoulders ached. And yet she had reveled in every moment of her volunteer labor, helping decorate the Westchester school's Rose Parade float.

"I was a little precariously perched," Griffin said laughing. "You had to climb through the scaffolding to get on this little itty bitty ledge.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," she added. "It's something you watched (on television) as a little kid. It's a cross between grade school arts and crafts and (summer) camp."

Except this particular arts and crafts project will be seen by an estimated crowd of more than 700,000 and tens of millions around the world Monday when the 123rd Rose Parade rolls along Pasadena's streets. By tradition, the parade and subsequent bowl game is pushed back a day when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday.

It's the first time the private Catholic institution has entered the parade since 1938.

The entry, 55 feet long and about 40 feet high, marks the culmination of the university's yearlong centennial

celebration.

It includes a soaring replica of the Sacred Heart Chapel bell tower, one of the oldest structures on campus, and a floral version of the William H. Hannon Library, one of the newest.

Also featured are the familiar LMU bluff letters that overlook Playa and Marina del Rey as well as a floral statue of a lion, the university's mascot.

The float will also include more than 12,000 roses and 7,000 gerberas, uncounted numbers of onion, poppy and lettuce seeds and

Volunteers work on the Loyola Marymount University Rose Parade float the school entered to mark its 100th anniversary. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

other organic materials.

"What a glorious thing, to tell your friends and family, `I decorated this,"' said Redondo Beach resident Cathy Dellacamera, a past president of the school's alumni association and a 1991 graduate. "It's pretty monumental to be part of something that happens once in a century."

Indeed, one couple among the hundreds of LMU volunteers working two eight-hour shifts a day in the Rose Palace, where Phoenix Decorating Company has 10 floats under construction, will have an extra special reason to remember the landmark float.

Crew Chief Craig Singer said on the first day of decorating, an unidentified young man got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend. She was seated on a float "kissing

Volunteers organize flowers for the Loyola Marymount University float, as well as others at the Rose Palace in Pasadena. (Sean Hiller / Staff Photographer)

bench," a reproduction of the wooden benches that dot the campus where many students have discussed their futures together.

"It was the cutest thing," Singer said. "She was in absolute shock. It was so romantic."

And she said "yes."

Singer, a no-nonsense Culver City resident overseeing the construction of what will be his 17th float in his 10 years as a crew chief, has exacting standards.

But he has been impressed with the vigor - and at times literal devotion - with which the LMU volunteers have approached their work.

For instance, a couple of devout Catholic ladies could barely contain their delight when they were directed to decorate the cross atop the faux chapel.

"For them it was like the Holy Grail," Singer said. "There has been days when the (volunteers) have been apologetic and thought they hadn't done enough work."

The LMU float is one of several with local ties in the parade, which this year has the theme "Let's Imagine".

Torrance-based American Honda is the parade sponsor and its float leads off the 8 a.m. parade. The city of Torrance will have its 58th float in the 2012 parade.

Meanwhile, Griffin has had so much fun decorating the float, her once in a lifetime trip could turn into more regular visits. She's discovered the existence of volunteer group the Petal Pushers, which helps decorate floats every year.

"I honestly would consider doing it again," Griffin said. "I really am having a ball. It appeals to my inner child or something."

nick.green@dailybreeze.com

Source: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_19640851?source=rss

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