The San Diego Zoo’s float took home top honors at the 136th Annual Rose Parade on Wednesday, winning the sweepstakes award for “Most Beautiful Entry” for the second year in a row.
This year’s float, “Friendship Across the Earth,” featured a pair of Chinese giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, who were on public display at the zoo in August.
Yun Chuan, a 5-year-old male, and Xin Bao, a 4-year-old female, are the first pandas to be sent to the United States in 20 years.
The more than 50-foot-tall float, designed by Azusa-based Artistic Entertainment Services, featured a panda replica surrounded by real black bamboo shoots. They were joined by a portrait of the zoo’s red pandas, Lucas and Adira, and a Malayan tiger named Connor.
“Giant pandas have an extraordinary ability to unite us,” Paul A. Baribeau, president and CEO of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said in a statement. “Yun Chuan and Xin Bao’s symbolic presence in the Rose Parade, a historic New Year tradition, celebrates the forces of nature and conservation as a unifying force.”
Official honors were given to 20 floats at the Tournament of Roses. The winning works and sponsors are as follows.
— Americana Award: Elks USA
— Animation Award: City of Burbank
— Bob Hope Humor Award: Boys & Girls Club
— Crown City Innovator Award: La Cañada Flintridge
— Best Director: Explore Louisiana
— Special Award: One Legacy Donate Life
— Fantasy Award: City of South Pasadena
— Founder’s Award: Downey Rose Float Assn.
— Golden State Award: Sierra Madre Rose Float Association
— Grand Marshal Award: Love 2 Yeu
— International Award: Coding for Veterans
— Isabella Coleman Award: City of Hope
— Jury Award: UPS Store, Inc.
— Leishman Public Spirit Award: Cal Poly University
— Mayor’s Award: City of Alhambra
— Past Presidential Award: Visit Mississippi
— President’s Award: Western Asset
— Princess Award: City of Torrance
— Queen Award: Shriners Children
— Showmanship Award: Trader Joe’s
— Sweepstakes Prize: San Diego Zoo
— Theme Award: Pasadena Humane/Hill’s Pet Nutrition
— Tournament Volunteer Award: Rotary
— Wrigley Legacy Award: Kaiser Permanente
Last year, the San Diego Zoo’s float “It Began With a Roar” also won a prize. There was a model of a huge lion named Rex on display.
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