The last time it rained on the Rose Parade was 2006. Crowds were a little thinner than in past years. But the show marched on.

This is the seventh time a self-built float has been honored with the Sweepstakes Trophy and the first time for Cal Poly Universities.

Rained poured down on the iconic Rose Parade for the first time in 20 years. That was as flood warnings and evacuation orders in Southern California joined snow squalls and frigid temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest to mark the first day of 2026.

The 137th annual Rose Parade proved even rain wasn’t going to stop the show, which included a large Kermit the Frog and fireworks.

As a steady rain pounded the famed Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena early Thursday, Michael Brooks manned a clutch of lawn chairs and hunched beneath a daisy-printed umbrella as he guarded his family’s front-row seats for the 137th Rose Parade.

And whether you are planning to watch in person, or on TV, there is one float you need to be on the lookout for: “Rising Together,” a float featuring a Phoenix rising from the ashes, and dedicated to the survivors of the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires.

The plane’s Rose Bowl window was moved from before the game to halftime in hopes that the weather would clear.

A protest at the iconic Rose Bowl parade put a spotlight on the deadly wildfires one year after they killed dozens in the Los Angeles area. A banner unfurled on a float honoring those affected by the fires appeared to call for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the cause of the Eaton Fire that left 19 people dead in the town of Altadena,