Those Were The Days: San Bernardino Mountains celebrated in Rose Parade floats

By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Historian

The San Bernardino Mountains have over the past 106 years been in the Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day numerous times. The first mountain area Rose Parade entry was in 1920, promoting visiting Big Bear. The “float” was an Oldsmobile truck which was driven down the Cushenberry grade on the back side of the mountain from Big Bear, filled with two tons of snow on New Year’s Eve.

The 1930 Lake Arrowhead float

On the float was a miniature real snow-covered hillside with evergreen trees, pine cones and four teens in ski togs. There were crossed snowshoes on the float’s front and back with the name “Big Bear Tavern” written in pine cones on the sides. Plus, there was a real, live bear on a platform on the front of the float along with the real snow, all promoting the idea that the snow resorts were actually closer than previously thought.

The Big Bear float won first place in the Hotel category. The 1920 Rose Parade didn’t have a specific theme but it was a parade turning point, as this 31st Rose Parade marked the transition from horse-drawn carriages to motorized floats. Big Bear Lake did become a popular vacation location with the new roadways opening up Big Bear in the 1920s.

Lake Arrowhead had a float in the 41^st annual Rose Parade ten years later in 1930. It was built on the top of a large car with the parade theme “Festival Days” in flowers. The float was a sleigh, with a couple of seed-covered reindeer over a sea of flowers, promoting the winter theme of the mountain area. Unfortunately, with the Depression years that followed, not a lot of tourists were able to visit.

Crestline’s entry into Pasadena’s 1949 Rose Parade was “The Old Fishin’ Place,” from “Crestline-Home of Lake Gregory.” Carnations and colors of white, purple/pink and yellows and greenery showed a fish happily avoiding the hook. The Rose Parade theme that year was “Childhood Memories.” The 1950s-60s were years that Crestline became known in SoCal as a summer vacation destination.

The 1949 Crestline float

The 1955 Rose Parade had a float from Santa’s Village, which was preparing to open for that summer. Their float had the theme “Merry Christmas from Skyforest, the home of Santa Claus.” The float – which looked like a large Christmas tree made of cedar and fir greens mingled with pink, white and yellow chrysanthemums – was pulled by nine live reindeer.  Additional red and white flowers were the ornaments decorating the Christmas tree.

There were four pairs of Alaskan reindeer pulling the tree float. Each reindeer wore a harness with their name plates identifying them, as Comet and Dasher, Donner and Prancer, Cupid and Vixen, and Blitzen and Dancer. Each harness was attached to sleigh bells which jingled loudly when the animals shook their heads, making a merry sound along the parade route. These mature reindeer were led by a yearling reindeer, “Rudy,” from the popular song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as sung by Gene Autry. There were four men herding the reindeer wearing Lapland costumes. A pair of costumed elves greeted the crowds watching the parade. This pre-opening of Santa’s Village promotion seemed to work as its opening day on Memorial Day weekend 1955 was sold out with crowded parking lots.

The 1955 Santa’s Village float

Big Bear again entered the Rose Parade in 2019, 99 years after its first entry in 1920.  The 2019  Rose Parade theme was “The Melody of Life,” celebrating music as a universal language bringing people together. Big Bear won the Golden State Award trophy honoring the rich cultural history of California. It took over two hours to cover that 5.5-mile distance, with over one million people watching. The float was a volunteer effort by the Big Bear community with the theme, “Play, Rest, Repeat,” which was well received.

On the float, the Big Bear Alpine Zoo was prominently featured with a live owl held by zoo curator Bob Cisneros and floral bears showing off many of the sports and activities available at Big Bear such as kayaking, boating, fishing, tubing, skiing and snowboarding. Big Bear’s float promoted awareness of the area’s beauty, and its atmosphere of year-round vacations and the rejuvenation gained from a visit.

Happy New Year 2026!