PASADENA, Calif.— The 40-foot-long parade float dwarfed volunteer Darlene Leyba as she attached flowers to bald spots of exposed wire mesh. As per Rose Parade rules, every inch of the float must be decorated with only natural, organic materials.
Blue waves sweep up into the tailfeathers of the design's symbolic centerpiece:
"A phoenix, rising," the 76-year-old described, looking up at the representation of the mythical bird born from ashes. "And that's how we all feel, that we're going to rise above this and rebuild and bring back our communities."
Nearly a year ago, the Eaton Fire tore through whole neighborhoods including Leyba's, leaving behind an ashy forest of chimneys not far from the parade route, just one week after the 2025 New Year's Day celebration. The grandstand was still up, covered in windblown debris as Leyba's home burned down.
"I told the kids, pack an overnight bag, we'll be back tomorrow," she remembered. "We never came back, and we never said goodbye to our home."
But she's finding her community again through work on the float, which is decorated entirely by fire survivors.
The Rose Parade is a New Year's Day tradition for millions of viewers who tune in on TV to see the creative displays of Southern California's natural bounty roll through the streets of Pasadena. For locals, it has long been a point of pride to be included among the many float crews, marching bands, and equestrian performers that have participated in the event since the first Tournament of Roses in 1890.
"I'm going, my God, I'm representing Altadena, all these people who have lost their homes and live in the community," marveled Leyba. "So, it's an honor."
"It's really kind of a living memorial of beautiful flowers and organic material, in a very LA experience that the world is watching," said Miguel Santana, CEO of California Community Foundation, a charity organization that funds wildfire recovery and sponsored the float.
Santana said many survivors are having a tough time as the anniversary of the fires approaches.
"People are really starting to feel a real mental breakdown," he said. "Folks are really struggling to navigate an insurance system that is failing them. For many people, the fact that the federal government hasn't provided the relief that it has for other natural disasters around the country, they're struggling."
In addition to reminding the nation of the ongoing need for assistance, Santana hoped the float would be a healing way to bring survivors together and create something beautiful to mark the moment.
"One person shared today that this is the first event that he's attended following the fires," Santana recalled. "He had lost his sister and was reluctant to go to anything, but because the Rose Parade is such a part of his own life being from Altadena, it felt right."
That survivor decorated one of 31 sunflowers; each represents someone who died in the fires. During construction in the float barn, the honor of installing the sunflowers was reserved for surviving friends and family, many of whom shared stories of their loved ones as they worked.
"We're hoping that, even for just one day, when they see that float going down a street that they're all familiar with, that they know that the world does care about them, that they're not alone in their journey of grief," says Santana.
"At first, it was very taxing to be around people," said Myra Berg, a survivor of the Palisades Fire. "But when I look around me and see other people who have lost their homes or who have smoke damage, I want to help."
Berg said she liked being up high in the scaffolds, working on the phoenix.
"I enjoyed the hell out of it!"
Like many of the volunteers, it's not the only construction project she's got going on right now — she hopes to have her Malibu home rebuilt around this time next year — but the speed at which the float has come together is gratifying compared to the slow pace of permitting and rebuilding a house.
"Another reporter asked if working on the float has been therapeutic. And I thought, 'Oh, therapeutic! I'm moving forward at this point," Berg jokes.
"I think it's good for the world to know that there is something that honors the survivors and the victims. People forget that these things happen. It's a nice way to reach out and say, 'Yes, we're ok. Thank you.'"
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