Floating plans for next year

Burbank’s drive-in movie- themed float didn’t pull out a win at Thursday’s 120th Tournament of Roses Parade, but the loss hasn’t discouraged organizers from planning next year’s float.

This year’s “3-D Double Feature” float was designed to look like a drive-in movie theater and was the city’s first float to include pyrotechnics.

But the fireworks were not the only firsts for the city’s float — the float also emitted a popcorn scent.

Organizers were hoping that the parade’s judges would notice the addition of the popcorn scent and the extra steps they took to make the float look different from others, said Bob Hutt, Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. vice president.

“Well, it’s always disappointing to lose when so many people put in so much work,” he said. “There’s always next year.”

Last year, Burbank’s “Oktoberfest” float won the Founders’ Trophy for the “most spectacular built and decorated by volunteers from a community or organization.” In 2007, the city’s “Free Dog Wash” didn’t win a trophy, but Burbank’s float won four trophies from 2003 to 2006.

This year, about 200 volunteers worked daily and sometimes in 24-hour shifts starting Dec. 26 to help decorate the city’s float.

“We were motivated by the challenge of the float, not by the profit,” said float association board member Steven Edwards.

But while the city’s float didn’t take home a win this year, organizers have begun accepting design entries for next year’s float. Design entries will be accepted until Jan. 28.

Organizers are looking for unique and entertaining designs such as this year’s float, Edwards said.

Burbank’s float was one of 45 others, including Glendale’s float, which won the Past Presidents trophy for “most creative use of floral or non-floral” for their interpretation of the Alex Theatre in the 1930s-era.

Twenty-two marching bands and 18 equestrian units also participated in the two-hour parade, which began north on South Orange Grove Boulevard at Ellis Street, went east on Colorado Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard and north on Sierra Madre Boulevard to Paloma Street.