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Cal Poly’s student builders have named their 78th Rose Parade entry “Soaring as One,” revealing a float that pairs flightless and flying birds to illustrate inclusion and teamwork. The announcement, timed as campuses ramp up planting and construction this fall, highlights hands-on engineering and floral programs that culminate on Jan. 1, 2027, in Pasadena.
Since 1949, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have combined forces to produce the Rose Parade’s only student-designed and student-built float, an effort that spans roughly 250 miles between campuses. This year’s concept responds to the Tournament of Roses theme, “Welcome,” by showing disparate birds rising together against a sunset backdrop.
Design and symbolism
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Cal Poly Rose Float picks 2027 theme: Soaring as One aims for unity
The student-led design, chosen through an internal competition held in February, aims to convey a message of belonging: birds that don’t normally fly join those that do, learning to move as a single flock. Sarah Vali, who led the design team, said the idea grew from wanting to evoke an uplifting sense of inclusion and shared achievement.
The float will include a mixture of large and small avian figures — from a 16-foot–wingspan Canada goose to a kiwi — arranged to suggest collective flight rather than isolated displays. A blimp element suspended above the chassis will carry a peacock and a Rhode Island Red, adding vertical drama and mechanical complexity.
What will appear on the float
- Soaring as One theme: mixed species flying in unison
- Featured birds: Canada goose (16‑ft wingspan), mallard, nene goose, great blue heron, kiwi
- Aerial element: 2,000‑pound blimp housing a peacock and a Rhode Island Red
- 42,000 flowers planned to mimic feathers — including celosia and gomphrena
- Two-campus flower beds and a new greenhouse for propagation and drying
Students expect to apply tens of thousands of blossoms to achieve textured, feathery surfaces. The flowers are being cultivated on both campuses, with planting that began in September and harvest scheduled for October, according to the student program managing the project.
“Many of our materials are grown and processed by students in the Rose Float Lab,” said Daniel Botzbach, the program’s vice president and a mechanical engineering senior. He added that the team is assembling a greenhouse this fall to expand production and protect blooms destined for dry decoration.
Engineering the spectacle
Beyond floral decoration, the float poses mechanical challenges. The team is overhauling its hydraulic systems to animate moving parts and to hide the sizable blimp during transport and decoration. Successfully concealing and operating a 2,000‑pound airborne structure requires recalibrated supports, secure actuators, and careful testing.
Construction shifts into a higher gear after harvest: students will begin major assembly in October and expect to finish the shell and mechanical systems by late December. Final floral dressing happens the week before New Year’s — a tight schedule chosen to ensure freshness on parade day.
For viewers, the result will be both a visual statement and a demonstration of interdisciplinary student work: horticulture, mechanical engineering, design and logistics all intersect to produce a single entry that will roll down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day.
Cal Poly’s float team plans to share progress through the fall and winter as flowers are applied and moving mechanisms are tested. The parade appearance is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2027, in Pasadena.
