Cal Poly Pomona’s Rose Parade float to star the Loch Ness Monster
Nessie the Loch Ness Monster and her friends will join the 2025 Rose Parade thanks to Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Cal Poly Pomona has announced that "Nessie's Lakeside Laughs" will be the universities' entry into the 136th Rose Parade, themed "The Best Day Ever" on Jan. 1, 2025.
The 55-foot long float will be 21 feet high and depict an animated lakeside party featuring puffins sliding down Nessie's fin, beavers crafting with driftwood, a Scottish terrier riding a paddleboat on the loch and a smiling Highland cow spinning in an innertube, states a Wednesday, Sept. 18, news release from Cal Poly Pomona.
"The inspiration for this float comes from that place of terrifying wonder, when you discover something new and end up enjoying it to the fullest," parade team president and mechanical engineering senior Brooke Handschin, of Cal Poly Pomona, and San Luis Obispo team president and graduate student Collin Marfia said in a statement.
Nessie will move her neck and head to survey her friends sliding, paddling and playing in the water with animations powered hydraulically. Smaller elements will be controlled by electric power.
The float will be made with plant life. Irises, roses and baby's breath will make up the lake. Black moss, cotton and coconut husks will cover the land animals. Nessie will be made of fresh and dry plant materials, the release states.
The entry is the parade's only float designed and constructed by students and is a joint effort of two teams, one from each university.
Pomona students traditionally build the front half of the float base, while San Luis Obispo's team builds the back. Design elements are shaped by both teams, who join the two halves in Pomona later in the fall.
The float project has won 62 awards since its parade debut in 1949. The most recent, the 2024 entry "Shock n' Roll: Powering the Musical Current" won the Crown City Innovator Award, which recognizes innovations in technology and imagination.
The float will be evaluated by Rose Parade judges on Dec. 31.
