Far from the glitter of rooftop viewing parties and pricey, grandstand seats, a few churches in Pasadena along the eastern end of the 2024 Rose Parade route are extending a helping hand to parade goers by offering lowered price parking and seats.
A handful of congregations sell below-rate parking spaces that would normally go unused within their own parking lots on Monday, Jan. 1 to last-minute visitors seeking a place to safely leave the SUV for the morning and catch a glimpse of the New Year’s spectacle.
One church sets up folding chairs at the curb as bargain-price seats that pack premiere sight lines.
That church is First United Methodist, at 500 E. Colorado Blvd., at Oakland Street, a few miles away from the parade’s start and the glut of TV cameras and Orange Grove Boulevard’s millionaire’s row. It had sold out of the 150 seats it places in front of its towering church building and spire by Wednesday, Dec. 27.
These ground-level seats sold quickly for just $25 a seat, a bargain when compared to Sharp Seating, the official seat seller for the Rose Parade, which is selling grandstand seats from Orange Grove Boulevard to east Colorado Boulevard for $85 to $120 each on Wednesday.
The seats in front of the church go mostly to congregants, families and friends, said the Rev. Dr. Amy Aitken, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Pasadena. Each year, these folks cheer as the floats down, the equestrian units clip-and-clop on by and the bands march step in uniform while playing a familiar tune.
Like Olympic judges, they also hold up placards that say “Perfect 10,” Aitken said.
“Our seats are more fun,” she said on Wednesday. “We interact with the people on the floats who always see that and they take pictures of us,” she said.
“Everybody gets a 10, of course,” she added.
The church rents parking for $25 per space for cars and $100 for trailers and motor homes, she explained. Some spaces remained unreserved as of late…
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