Rose Parade in June: First Float Testing

Raymond Avenue pedestrians'll see a very January-like sight.

Fun film fact practically every local knows: Pasadena's own Gamble House served as Doc Brown's digs in "Back to the Future." 

Which means that the flux capacitor, the blinky device that allows time travel in the 1985 film, was invented, in a way, right in the Crown City.

Which all leads us to say this: Should you see Rose Parade-type floats rolling down Raymond Avenue on Saturday, June 7 -- which is a location that's not too far from the flux capacitor's birthplace -- you have not time-slipped forward to Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015.

Okay? Breathe deeply. It's still late spring. You're here. No souped-up DeLoreans in sight. Good?

Phoenix Decorating Company will be performing the "First Float Testing for the 2015 Rose Parade" beginning at 7 a.m. on June 7. The floats'll go "up and down" Raymond with a final stop point at 835 S. Raymond. The testing is "free and open to the public."

Just over a half dozen floats will be checked out for "mechanical and maneuverability" issues, including vehicles from Kiwanis and the Shriners Hospitals.

Will it be discombobulating to be half a year away from when the floats regularly roll? To be in shorts and a T-shirt instead of bundled in fleece and a stocking cap? Oh, heck. There've been one or two New Years Days where we've all rocked shorts along Colorado Boulevard. Maybe it won't feel too differently at all.

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Most of all call it a fun chance for Tournament enthusiasts to go a bit deeper with their favorite annual event. Sure, lots of people have seen the parade, but who has experienced a late-spring test run?

You will, if you're up early on June 7. No flux capacitor required.

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