Persistence paid off! Our efforts in late 2005 for attaining media exposure to celebrate the city’s 225^th anniversary came as a surprise in late 2006 when I got an email from the float builders inviting us to ride the Los Angeles float in 2007. We had initially hoped to ride in the 2006 Rose Parade, but technically, our banner year did not begin till that September of 2006, and since it rained on the parade that year it all worked out in our favor. Five LP200 members got to ride with Channel 5 newsman Stan Chambers. I had not actually been to the parade since I was a kid so to be a participant was truly an event to remember.

At first I was a bit upset to be riding on the north side of the float because the Channel 5 news cameras are always looking from the south, but as luck would have it a friend of mine happed to spot me and snapped a picture of me waving to the crowd. Plus, my mother-in-law and her family said they saw me on TV on their San Diego cable channel.

The ride itself lasts a couple hours. We had taken publicity photos in costume the day before for a contest, and I remembered that bringing a cushion to sit on would be a good idea - I was right. We all had a great time representing the city to the cheering spectators. It was kinda like being a rock star for the day. The float had built-in speaking blasting Randy Newman’s I Love LA. It was fun working the crowd and getting them to sing along as we passed - "we love it!" I look back with pride every time I think of that day.