This afternoon I watched part of the annual Rose Parade. OK, I know that the parade was in the morning, but they were showing it on another channel in the afternoon. The parade was long over before I got up this morning.

The parade made me think of a few clippings in my Grandma’s Scrapbooks.

This is the artist’s sketch for the Iowa float in the 1957 Rose Parade. The theme of the float was ‘Strength From the Land.’

The float was one of the first in the parade as the Iowa Hawkeyes were meeting Oregon State in the Rose Bowl.

The three side platforms were labeled; “First in Agriculture”, “Leaders in Industry” and “Foremost in Education”.

The six girls on the float were all from Iowa and had won different competitions.

The float was beautifully covered by roses, sweet pea blossoms, torch ginger, antherium, birds of paradise and chrysanthemums.

I also found a color picture of the float on Pinterest and pinned it to mine.

The float won a Class A award and later that day the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Oregon State Beavers in the Rose Bowl.

Ken Ploen and Collins Hagler led the team to a 35-19 win, with Hagler running for a 66 yard touchdown.

Another float in the parade was also designed by an Iowan. This float for the Lutheran Laymen League was designed by Paul Mueller of Yorktown, Iowa. The float depicts ‘The Last Supper’. He won 150 dollars for his design.

I saw several other floats from 1957 that had religious themes, a big contrast from what we see today. I was also amazed at the big differences in float construction from 57 years ago.

Did you watch the parade today?

Steven