Santa Monica Returns To Rose Parade With Float That Residents Can Help Build

SANTA MONICA, CA — The city of Santa Monica will return to the Rose Parade for the first time in decades, and city leaders want residents to help build the city's float before it rolls down Colorado Boulevard on New Year's Day.

Mayor Caroline Torosis unveiled the design for the 2027 entry, titled "Waves of Welcome," during Thursday evening's State of the City address. She also announced plans to bus volunteers to Pasadena in December, where they will help decorate the float by hand before the parade.

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Crowds packed a closed section of Main Street for the annual event, which returned outdoors for a second consecutive year. A warm ocean breeze offered some relief from the summer heat as families wandered between booths staffed by city departments, community organizations and neighborhood groups, while candidates in November's municipal election greeted voters and collected signatures.

The float depicts many of Santa Monica's best-known landmarks and attractions, including the Santa Monica Pier, Pacific Park's Ferris wheel, the Route 66 "End of the Trail" sign, surfers riding a wave, beach bicycles, palm trees and the historic carousel horse. The design reflects the parade's 2027 theme, "Welcome."

Residents invited to help

"Not just to watch our float being created," Torosis said of the December volunteer effort. "To help create it."

Torosis said every visible inch of a Rose Parade float must be covered with natural materials including flowers, seeds, bark and leaves, with volunteers attaching each piece by hand during the final days before the parade.

"This float will be uniquely ours because Santa Monicans helped create it, one living piece at a time," Torosis said.

The reveal capped a speech that focused on Santa Monica's recovery from the pandemic and the January 2025 Palisades Fire while outlining what Torosis described as the city's next chapter.

"We are turning the lights back on," she said. "What we do with the light is our renaissance."

Rather than offering a year-end list of accomplishments, Torosis framed the address around three questions she said should guide the city's future: Does Santa Monica work? Can people still belong here? And is the city using this period of opportunity to create something lasting?

Among the accomplishments she highlighted were the restoration of full service at all five Santa Monica Public Library branches for the first time since the pandemic, a structurally balanced General Fund budget ahead of schedule and nearly $110 million in planned investment in parks, streets, libraries, transportation and other public infrastructure. She also pointed to full sworn staffing within the Police Department for the first time in more than 20 years, declining serious crime and faster permitting for local businesses.

Looking ahead

Torosis also highlighted the city's Right to Counsel program for tenants facing eviction, the launch of the $6 million Santa Monica Renter Aid program and the approval of nearly 1,800 new homes, including more than 450 permanently affordable units.

Looking ahead, she said Santa Monica should use upcoming events including the Ocean Way Music Festival, Super Bowl week and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to leave lasting improvements for residents rather than temporary benefits.

"The events are not the prize," Torosis said. "The city we create because of them is the prize."

She said she hopes residents who volunteer to decorate the Rose Parade float will see a little of themselves when it appears on television on New Year's morning.

"I want every Santa Monican watching to point at the screen and say, 'I put that rose right there on the float,'" Torosis said, adding, "Because this city belongs to all of us. Its recovery belongs to all of us. And its future belongs to all of us."