Watching the Parade?
Who is watching the parade this morning?
Oklahoma float builders well-grounded
By Penny Cockerell
Staff Writer
PASADENA, Calif. — When Gov. Brad Henry waves from the "Oklahoma Rising” float today in the Rose Parade, he'll actually be standing on Sooner soil.
The dirt is courtesy of Dennis Cosper, an Oklahoma native who moved from Henryetta to Diamond Bar, Calif., in 1986 but never forgot his red-dirt roots. Cosper, who has spent about 80 hours decorating the float, had a mason jar of Oklahoma soil he was willing to give
away.
"Oklahoma is in my heart, just like anybody else's state is,” said Cosper, who stood before the 55-foot display of floral explosions and animated stars as it neared completion Sunday.
Cosper has volunteered to work on Rose Parade floats for years, but this year was special. The transplanted Okie wore a crimson University of Oklahoma shirt (he says his loyalty is to any Oklahoma team), an Oklahoma state seal belt buckle and a Henryetta Hens pin.
Cosper pointed to the purple chrysanthemums he glued near the float's wrapped birthday box. He also helped shred coconut to coat the shooting stars, then shredded more coconut — this time more coarsely — to ice the Centennial birthday cake.
All the float ingredients must be natural and undyed, which takes real creativity. Ironed cornhusks line the bottom of the "Oklahoma Rising” float, for example, and orange lentils add color to the birthday box. Crushed rice and straw flowers make up the ribbon.
Tulsans Jeff and Wanda Bennett and their son, Michael, spent hours gluing seaweed on the tips of an American Indian headdress for the "Unique History” float, which also depicts Oklahoma's statehood celebration.
"You have to almost be a contortionist sometimes depending on what you're doing,” Jeff Bennett said. "It's not real hard, but it is a lot of fun.”
And, of course, roses make up the overall theme.
About 11,000 red Mercedes roses alone were used to spell out "Oklahoma” on each side.
"It's a beautiful float,” Cosper said. "The name just jumps out at you, and that's what the state needs is more advertisement.”
At least a hundred other Oklahomans shared Cosper's sentiments as they maneuvered through the crowds who gawked Sunday at several of the rose-bearing monsters awaiting Rose Parade judges.
When the judges arrived at the Fiesta Parade Floats barn, about 100 Oklahomans from two tour buses broke out in song:
"Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain ....”
The 46th state usually doesn't demand this kind of worldwide attention. But, as Vi Drassen of Clinton put it, "anything that's 100 years old is a big deal.”
It is also a big deal for Oklahoma to have not one, but two floats in the Rose Parade. No other entity ever has done that.
Oklahoma also headlines the parade's opening act. Kristen Chenoweth, a Tony Award-winning Broadway star from Broken Arrow, will sing the original score titled "Our Good Nature” to coincide with the parade's theme.
The 150-piece Oklahoma All*Star Centennial Band will accompany Chenoweth, and Oklahoma City University's American Spirit Dance Company will perform. Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry, who reigns from Tulsa, will say a few words.
"It is such an honor to have the year I was crowned be the same year we are celebrating the centennial,” Berry said as she posed for photos Sunday.
As Oklahomans ramped up their rehearsals Sunday, Fiesta Parade Crew Chief Neil Conrad was anticipating the moment he could ramp down.
As builder-in-chief for the "Oklahoma Rising” float, Conrad was on his 25th hour of nonstop vigilance Sunday morning — and counting. His job stops when the parade starts.
"We'll go back and sit in the motor home and fall asleep in front of the TV,” Conrad said. "It's just such an emotional crash.”
Conrad pointed out the float's intricacies, such as how the letters were formed out of pencil steel and how the same polymer used to mothball U.S. Navy ships was sprayed onto the frame. High-expansion foam was blown onto anywhere that flowers go — and the flowers all have their own story.
Months ago, Mellano Company Manager Barry Veffer, a wholesale flower broker, arrived with 97 varieties of roses, mostly from Colombia and Ecuador, for the float designers to pick from. They analyzed color palettes and determined bloom patterns and whether they could get at least 10,000 of each rose variety.
The roses were cut Dec. 24 and shipped to Pasadena, where each had to be approved, counted, sorted, cut again, then put in an individual vial with water and a floral preservative.
"There's well over 100,000 flowers in this place,” Veffer said. "And they were all put in one at a time.”
Unusually warm weather delayed the roses' placement from Tuesday to Wednesday. Once clipped and put on the floats, the roses are at nature's mercy. Fortunately, this year has been ideal.
The red roses spelling "Oklahoma” are at prepeak stage. If all guesses are good, they'll bloom fully this morning and fill out the frame.
Conrad left most of the pretty stuff to decorators and concerned himself more with the structure. Conrad has built Rose Parade floats and said he can't help but get attached to these rolling monuments.
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