New year comes up roses for Wallace resident
<p>Wallace's Alex Medrano volunteers for Petal Pushers, a group that gathers in Pasadena, CA, to attach flowers and seeds to the floats for the annial Rose Parade on New Year's Day. This was his first year volunteering at the event.</p>
How did Alex Medrano prepare to ring in the New Year?
Not by watching television as a glass ball descended a pole in Times Square or by getting ready to watch a fireworks display.
He celebrated the week leading up to the New Year by getting glue on his fingers and "pushing petals."
The Wallace man was among the thousands of volunteers who helped decorate floats for the 2013 Rose Parade.
He belongs to the Petal Pushers, an elite corps of volunteers who travel from all over the country to gather in Pasadena, Calif., each year.
These volunteers spend the week attaching thousands of roses, carnations, lilies, mums and other flowers, as well as natural materials such as seeds, coffee beans and leaves, to create the majestic beauty and splendor of the floral floats riding down Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard during the annual Rose Parade on New Year's Day.
"This is my first time here," Medrano said. "I thought this would be a fun thing to do since I love arts and crafts."
Many of the Petal Pushers come to decorate the Lutheran Hour Ministries float - a Tournament of Roses perennial for 63 years and the only Christian-themed float in the parade.
The float's sponsor, St. Louis-based LutheranHour Ministries, is a Christian outreach organization named for The Lutheran Hour, the world's longest-running Gospel-centered radio program.
A large number of the 5,000-member-plus Petal Pusher organization's volunteers help out on up to eight other Rose Parade floats as well - turning the week into one of the largest servant events in the country.
It's an opportunity for many to make new friends, network and share expressions of the faith that for them gives true meaning to this experience.
"I was looking forward to helping decorate the Lutheran Hour Ministries float since it is the only Christian float in the parade," Medrano said. "I have also helped out on the Wells Fargo theme banner float that opened the parade by cutting and mixing flowers to display the various colors on the float."
The 124th Rose Parade presented by Honda, under the theme "Oh, the Places You'll Go," was watched live on television by approximately 40 million Americans and by millions more around the world.
The New Year's Day parade this year featured 42 floats composed of around 40 million flowers among the 91 units that also included marching bands and equestrian units.
"This has been a very cool experience to help with a worldwide event like this," Medrano said. "It is definitely a special feeling to watch the parade and be able to tell my friends ... 'Hey, I worked on those floats.'"