Local walks in Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena

David Shelton, long-time Portola Rotarian, was invited by a past Rotary district governor to be one of eight “Outwalkers” from the United States and Canada for the Rotary International float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on Jan. 2.

Each Outwalker was dressed in their ancestral costume. Shelton, smiling and waving to the viewers during the 6-mile trek, proudly wore his family’s Scottish Stewart Royal tartan and accompanying regalia.

This year’s Rotary International float was spectacular and colorful. Arch Klumph, the founder of the Rotary Foundation 100 years ago, was the namesake for this year’s float celebrating, “Doing Good in the World.” Rotary International’s 2017 entry was the 38th consecutive float entered in the Rose Parade.

The float is funded by generous donations of Rotarians in the United States and Canada. Volunteers donate more than 6,000 hours in preparing decorations and applying them to the float. Shelton and his wife Nora were thrilled to participate in the decorating process and witness the intricate detail of each petal, seed and flower applied to the float.

According to Nora Shelton, “It was interesting to learn that each float’s driver and spotter were required to sleep inside the float the night before the parade as it sat in its position on the parade route. When we asked around to find out why this was so, we got a variety of answers, but the main answer is that it is tradition, and the Parade holds fast to their traditions.”