Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo has experienced several Rose Parades in his time.
His tenure as mayor has coincided with the COVID-19 era, when Tournament of Roses’ attendance levels wained compared to past years.
But this year, the city’s top elected official, who rode once again in this year’s parade, said the 2024 Rose Parade drew the largest crowd he’s seen in years.
Now, exactly what that number is isn’t exactly known. Estimates have ranged from half a million to 700,000-ish, who saw the 135th Rose Parade on Monday, as it proceeded along Colorado Boulevard. But the mayor said it was definitely larger than recent years, offering hope amid some uncertainty that the parade has regained its momentum as a New Year’s Day destination after a few pandemic years – one of those years, 2021, with no parade at all.
“Based on my experience, not at all supported by science or a headcount, I believe that this was the most well attended Rose Parade in quite some time,” he said.
In addition to riding in the last few parades as Pasadena’s mayor, Gordo said he also has first-hand experience with the parade going as far back as 2011 when he participated as guest of then mayor Bill Bogaard.
“The grandstands are always well attended but what I noticed in the last couple of years is the crowd is probably three or four rows back into the sidewalk,” he said. “This year, people were all the way back to the buildings.”
While there’s no official estimate for the Rose Parade’s attendance, reports place the numbers for 2019 at around roughly 700,000, a huge jump from when it started over a century ago and drew a crowd of 3,000.
The mayor’s assessment aligned with the general consensus from City Hall officials that the crowd was much more robust this year.
“It’s five square miles, and some of these blocks have more than 100 people per block,” said city spokesperson Lisa Derderian said on Tuesday. “This year has been our biggest year in…
Read the full article here
