The Rose Bowl Parade will take place as every year, on January 1, 2019 in Pasadena, California. The 127th Rose Parade will kick off at 8a.m. PT/ 11a.m. ET with the theme "Inspiring Stories" and will go on for two hours.
The parade route will being on the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. The floats, bands, and equines will then turn east onto Colorado Boulevard. Toward the end of the route, the parade will turn north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard, before finishing at Villa Street. A live stream is available to watch on ABC or KTLA.
Streets will be closed as nearly one million spectators are expected to line the streets to see the Rose parade this year. (see map below). The parade will broadcast live in the U.S. on ABC, NBC, HGTV, KTLA5, Univision, Red TV, Family Net, Sky Link, and the Hallmark Channel. The full event guide can be downloaded here.
This year's parade will feature the usual floral floats, marching bands, and equestrian units as they march down the five and a half mile route along Colorado Boulevard. The floats are covered with thousands of flowers, leaves, seeds or bark. According to the Tournament of Roses website, each float is decorated with more flowers than an average florist will use in five years. Spectators are expected to line up along the streets for curbside viewing a day before the parade.
The Grand Marshal for the 2019 Tournament of Roses will be Louis Zamperini, Olympian and World War II prisoner. Despite his passing, this year's Tournament of Roses is dedicated to honoring him as the Grand Marshal of the 2019 Parade. The late Zamperini wrote his life story "Devil at My Heels," which was later documented in best-selling book "Unbroken," which became a New York Times best-seller. The book was then released as a movie of the same title.
Those lucky enough to get a spot along the Rose Parade route are treated to a two-hour parade of magnificent floral floats, talented marching bands, and high-stepping equestrians. The 5 1/2-mile Rose Parade route begins at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. The parade travels north on Orange Grove at a leisurely 2 1/2-mile per hour pace and then turns east onto Colorado Boulevard, where the majority of the parade viewing takes place. Near the end of the route, the parade turns north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard and concludes at Villa Street.