Thursday, December 12, 2024

Louisiana Travel float stalls after mid-Rose Parade performance

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The Louisiana Office of Tourism returned for the 134th Rose Parade with an award-winning float and mid-parade performance that wowed viewers around the world. But it stalled shortly after.

The 2023 mid-parade performance, featuring Laine Hardy and the New Orleans-based Hot 8 Brass Band performing “Born on the Bayou,” was followed by a short delay.

Penn State band members and riders on the “Protecting the Wild” float entry from Mutual of Omaha hurried to catch up once the situation was resolved, an easy task considering the floats typically move slower than 5 miles-per-hour.

It’s the second consecutive year the Louisiana float has had hiccups in the famed procession.

Last year’s Louisiana Tourism float had to be towed, said Tournament of Roses volunteer Andrew Santelli, who recalled some Mylar streamers getting caught in the engine and causing a small fire.

Santelli rode in the 2023 float with Steve Altmayer, a 63 year-old Chatsworth resident who bundled up for the 50th year in a row on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 1, to drive the aptly named “Feed Your Soul” Louisiana Office of Tourism float.

The Tournament’s parade operations motto, Santelli said, is “keep it moving.”

Thankfully, the three-minute hiccup was fixed shortly after the malfunction occurred.

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