First Canadian float in 35 years to take part in historic Rose Parade

One of America's biggest New Year's Day spectacles will have a Canadian touch to start off 2024 — with a "rare" float entry from a Toronto-based not-for-profit in the 135th Rose Parade, which receives an estimated broadcast audience of 50 million viewers around the world.

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Coding for Veterans, an organization that provides courses to train current and former military members in the IT sector, submitted an entry this year to join the 2024 parade.

"It was very intimidating and the reason being there hasn't been a lot of Canadian float entries in this parade," said Jeff Musson, the executive director of Coding for Veterans.

The Tournament of Roses, which puts on the parade, says the last time a Canadian float was entered in was one from British Columbia in 1988.

Musson says the idea was brought forward after the organization decided to expand to the University of Southern California with a U.S. version of the program. The team chose to promote the new California-based program by taking part in the upcoming Rose Parade.

"We said, 'Look, we have to have this theme covered in terms of military, and we need this theme covered in terms of IT, and how do we bring both of those two together'?" Musson said.

The final product is a nearly 17-metre-long float that is about two-and-a-half storeys in height.

It includes both American and Canadian flags, a giant laptop and military helicopter.

In following the parade rules, every inch of the exterior has to be covered in flowers or other natural materials.

"The white in the background ... that's ground up coconut. The green, that's ground up parsley," said Musson, adding that the float's exterior also consists of 10,000 roses.

He adds the float is currently estimated to cost more than $200,000, which is covered by the not-for-profit's sponsors.