2019 Rose Parade has 40 floats, 21 marching bands and a proud Jewish, LGBTQ queen

The 2019 Rose Parade will roll out Tuesday morning with familiar, comforting and decorative style, along with a twist of newness.

Among the new is a grand marshal, Chaka Khan, who will serve as more than a cultural icon riding in a car: She is also scheduled to sing. And 101st Rose Queen Louise Deser Siskel, a future scientist in glasses, has proudly shared being Jewish and bisexual.

The familiar heart of the Pasadena event will bring together 40 floats, 21 marching bands and 18 equestrian units. The parade also serves as a prelude to the Rose Bowl, this year pitting the Washington Huskies against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

As it often is, the weather was expected to be clear and bright — like the postcard-style real estate promotion the parade was once intended to be. But that sunshine followed a chilly night for campers along the 5.5-mile route. Overnight winds were expected to range from 25 mph to 45 mph, with gusts up to 65 mph. Temperatures dipped to the 30s — not record cold, but a chill made worse by the wind.

With people stoking homemade fires to keep warm, firefighters patrolled for wind-blown embers.

The floats are assembled with as many natural materials as possible, with a sweeping palette of colors, but the rainbow is also cultural.

Full coverage of the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade »

The high school band from Flower Mound, Texas, is taking part and so is Na Koa Ali`I, Hawaii’s all-state marching band from Kaneohe. They’ll be joined by the All-Izumo Honor Green Band from Japan and the Banda Escolar from Guayanilla, Puerto Rico.

U.S. Forest Service pack mules are defying the federal government shutdown to strut their stuff, if that’s what pack mules do in this situation. Officially, they‘re celebrating Smokey Bear’s 75th birthday.

Other equestrian exploits will include the Norco Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team & Little Miss Norco Cowgirls Jr. Drill Team and the Mini Therapy Horses from Calabasas.

The flotilla of floats has its own assorted histories and motivations. For Cal Poly Pomona, float construction has become an annual exercise in student entrepreneurship and artistry.

Certain cities and causes are represented year after year.

The Donate Life float extols the mission of organ donation for the 16th year and this year’s theme highlights the musical diversity and rhythms of Africa — in keeping with the overall parade theme, “the Melody of Life.”

The float will showcase African drums: the djembe from Senegal, the Kuba from the Congo, a giant marimba from Ghana, a kora from Burkina Faso. The float also incorporates 44 floral portraits honoring deceased donors.

I am Jewish. I wear glasses. I am bisexual — and I'm the Rose QueenDEC 31, 2018 | 3:05 AM

Overlooking the portraits is a double Senufo mask from the Ivory Coast “that gives thanks to ancestors and remembers those who have gone before,” according to the float sponsors. “The double face suggests male and female, past and present generations, as well as the interconnectedness of all of those who have been touched by the power of donation.”

Twenty-six living donors or transplant recipients will ride or walk beside the float.

A first-time entry comes from the restaurant chain Chipotle, which hopes for a goodwill boost five months after more than 600 people came down with food poisoning after eating at a Chipotle in Ohio.

The float features a giant red tractor to symbolize the work of farms. On the float will be growers and suppliers of ingredients for Chipotle restaurants as well as the rock band Portugal. The Man.

The “Cultivate a Better World” float is crafted with ingredients served in Chipotle restaurants, including about 200 pounds of chili flakes to cover the tractor; ground onion seeds for the tires; cumin, cloves, oregano and bay leaves covering the cart; ground white rice for lettering and 100 pounds of lemons hanging in trees — all destined to be recycled as compost.

Organizers have tried in recent years to respond to the diversity of Southern California.

The first African American rose queen was named in 1985. The Tournament of Roses had its first female president in 2006. The first African American president, Gerald Freeny, is serving this year.

There’s still a queen, and she’s a high school senior at a tony private school in Pasadena. But Siskel, this year’s honoree, will break from tradition by wearing glasses. And in an op-ed in The Times, she noted the importance of the platform she has.

She describes herself as “the first Rose Queen to talk about being Jewish. I feel an additional responsibility, to myself and to this tradition, to share that I am bisexual.”

“While I am almost certainly not the first member of the LGBTQ community on the court,” she wrote, “I hope that by saying so publicly, I might encourage others to be proud of who they are.”