A float in next week’s Rose Parade will carry three young dairy leaders from Stanislaus and Merced counties – along with spectacular renderings of cheese, ice cream and other treats.
The California Milk Advisory Board, based in Modesto and South San Francisco, is a first-time entrant in the New Year’s Day event in Pasadena. It will be the 127th edition of the parade, televised on NBC and several other networks starting at 8 a.m.
Each of the 44 floats must be covered with flowers or other natural materials. The dairy group will attach them to sculptures of a milk bottle, a buttered baked potato, a pizza, a grilled-cheese sandwich and a banana split.
The riders will include:
▪ Makenzie Neves of Turlock, a third-generation farmer who has shown dairy cattle in 4-H and Future Farmers of America. She is a dairy princess and is studying communications at California State University, Sacramento. She plans to work as an event planner and public relations specialist in the dairy industry.
▪ Katie Migliazzo of Atwater, a third-generation dairy farmer and former dairy princess who has shown cattle in 4-H and FFA. She is attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, with a major in dairy science and a minor in agricultural business.
▪ Karleen Lopez of Los Banos, a member of the California Junior Holstein Association and FFA. She has her own dairy heifer and plans to study agricultural journalism.
The parade is part of the Tournament of Roses, which will continue that day with the Rose Bowl football game between Stanford University and the University of Iowa.
Elsewhere on the Flower Beat:
Four of the Rose Parade floats will be certified as “California-grown,” meaning that at least 85 percent of the flowers were grown in the state. Karen Ross, secretary of food and agriculture for Gov. Jerry Brown, made that point while watching students assemble a float at Cal Poly this week.
Her department reported that California led the nation in cut flower production in 2013, with about $328 million in gross income to growers. It is not a major business in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, but the region does have nurseries that grow ornamental plants.
By: John Holland
Source: The Modesto Bee