Rose Float Wins Fantasy Award -- Still Vying for Viewers' Choice
Galactic Expedition was a blast at the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day. The Cal Poly Universities' latest and 63rd consecutive float won the Fantasy Award for most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination.
Voting is still underway for the 2011 Viewers' Choice Award, which Cal Poly students hope to win for the third consecutive time. This year the competition will spread to a national audience bringing
increased competition. Voting can be done online as well as via text message. Voting will take place Jan. 1 from 8 a.m. (PST) to 2:10 p.m. (PST), with the winner announced later in the afternoon.
- To vote online, go to the Tournament of Roses website at
www.tournamentofroses.com/viewers-choice-award and follow the instructions. - To vote via cell phone message, text FLOAT 14 to 50649. There is no charge to vote, but message and data rates may apply.
- Five votes per email and five per text message are allowed.
Galactic Expedition depicts a planet and a rocket floating amid clouds as children work to assemble the spaceship of their dreams. The 2011 parade theme is "Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories." Michael Roussin, a third-year mechanical engineering student from Cal Poly Pomona, submitted the winning design in the annual design contest.
In the last few days leading up to the parade, volunteers covered the float with thousands of roses and carnations, as well eucalyptus and oleander leaves. Rose Float team members at Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have worked year round on every aspect of the project including its design, construction, animation and decoration. Before heading down Colorado Boulevard, they will check and double check to make sure the animation, mechanics and other operating systems are in good working order.
