PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A parade of floats, horses and bands proclaiming a message of promise and advancement for the 21st century marched past half a million cheering spectators lined up Saturday for the annual Tournament of Roses spectacle.
Sunshine intermittently bathed the 51/2-mile procession, which was watched by an estimated television audience of 365 million around the globe.
Crowd-pleasers included a float with a working roller coaster and flowery depictions of fire-breathing dragons, the Statue of Liberty, 12-foot butterflies and a pair of real-life newlyweds aboard a float depicting an elegant chapel garden.
Parade watchers also bid farewell to the Y2K bug. A giant, dead bug was laid out before a computer on one float complete with funeral flowers.
"We've watched it on TV, but there's nothing like being part of the actual parade," said Richard Markson of San Diego. "One float just outdoes another."
Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of The Walt Disney Co. and the nephew of the late Walt Disney, was grand marshal of the "Celebration 2000: Visions of the Future" procession.
The parade also featured 26 equestrian units and 25 marching bands, including those from college football Rose Bowl contenders — Big 10 champion University of Wisconsin and the Pacific-10's Stanford University.
And there was a dose of old-fashioned tradition.
A Missouri couple — Neil Neumeyer and Leslie Ogle of Kansas City — exchanged wedding vows before climbing onto Florists' Transworld Delivery's "Promises for Tomorrow" float. Doves circled the float during the procession.
Brimming with tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, lilies and roses, the float featured cascading floral arrangements along a fountain-lined aisle stairway.
For many paradegoers, the parade was a giant slumber party to usher in 2000. Thousands of people began staking out prime curbside locations 24 hours before the start of the 111th edition of the parade.