Cal Poly Rose Parade float inspired by Loch Ness

Float will depict a lakeside party scene featuring the Loch Ness monster

– Cal Poly students are preparing to bring the mythic Loch Ness monster to life in their 2025 Rose Float entry, “Nessie’s Lakeside Laughs,” for the 136th Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1.

Measuring 55 by 17 feet and standing 21 feet tall, the float will depict a lakeside party scene featuring the Loch Ness monster, known as Nessie, alongside puffins sliding down Nessie’s fin, beavers crafting with driftwood, a Scottish terrier in a paddleboat, and a Highland cow spinning in an innertube. This is the Cal Poly University’s Rose Float team’s 76th entry in the parade.

The float honors the parade’s 2025 theme, “Best Day Ever!,” which celebrates life’s best moments, those unexpected times that bring joy.

“The inspiration for this float comes from that place of terrifying wonder, when you discover something new and end up enjoying it to the fullest,” said Brooke Handschin, Pomona team president, and Collin Marfia, San Luis Obispo team president, in a joint statement.

The Cal Poly University Rose Float is the only student-designed and constructed entry in the Rose Parade. It is a joint effort between students from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Since debuting in the Rose Parade in 1949, the team has earned 62 awards. The 2024 float, “Shock n’ Roll: Powering the Musical Current,” received the Crown City Innovator Award for technological innovations.

The concept for the 2025 float was suggested by Cal Poly alumna Holly Dufek, who served on the leadership team for the 2022 float, “Stargrazers.”

“One of the desires the team had this year was to build a main, large, striking element,” said Marfia. “We wanted to create one large character who would steal the show.”

The float’s movements will be controlled by the team’s newly designed animation system. Larger elements, such as Nessie’s neck and head, will be powered hydraulically, while smaller elements will be controlled electronically.

“We will also be continuing our innovations with neoprene concealment and ‘floating rings’ mechanisms to give Nessie more natural movement,” Marfia added.

In addition, Nessie will be decorated with fresh flowers, inserted in her body, similar to a technique used in the 2023 float, “Road to Reclamation.”

The scene will feature colorful blooms, including irises, roses, and baby’s breath, for the lake, while dry materials such as black moss, cotton, and coconut husks will decorate the land animals.

Building the float is nearly a yearlong process, involving around 60 students from the two campuses. Tasks include building, adjusting, and testing mechanical systems, welding structural supports, and shaping design elements.

Cal Poly Pomona traditionally builds the front half of the float base, while students in San Luis Obispo work on the back. In mid-October, the two halves will be transported to the Pomona campus, where they will be joined in a ceremony that marks the countdown to the parade.

Students will continue to build the float through the fall, balancing studies and final exams, before it is ready for the Rose Float judges’ evaluation the day before the parade.

“We are both most excited to see all our team’s hard work come to fruition on New Year’s Day,” said Handschin and Marfia. “When people see the float come down Colorado Boulevard, they’ll see a beautiful float with Nessie and her friends. We’ll see that too — but we’ll also see every step that our team went through to get there.”