Cal Poly reveals 2025 Rose Parade design. It features one of the world’s most famous monsters

Cal Poly has revealed its design for the 2025 Rose Parade — and it features one of the world’s most legendary monsters.

The 2025 float will depict Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster at an “animated lakeside party” alongside puffins, beavers, a Scottish terrier and a Highland cow, according to a Cal Poly news release.

The float honors the 2025 parade theme: “Best Day Ever.”

“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 Pomona team president Brooke Handschin, a mechanical engineering senior, and San Luis Obispo team president Collin Marfia in the news release.

This year’s float will include hydraulic and electronic elements, as well as “fresh, vialed flowers” inset in Nessie’s body.

The lake will be made up of irises, roses and baby’s breath, while other natural materials like moss, cotton and coconut husks will adorn the land animals.

Cal Poly Rose Parade entry wins innovation award as it celebrates 75 years of making floats

The Cal Poly float is the only student-designed and student-constructed entry in the Rose Parade, which occurs in Pasadena annually on New Year’s Day.

The 2025 float will be Cal Poly’s 76th annual entry.

Construction of the float is a cross-campus effort — students in San Luis Obispo construct the back half, while students at Cal Poly Pomona construct the front.

They’ll join both halves in Pomona in October and fine-tune the details until the event on Jan. 1.

“We are both most excited to see all our team’s hard work come to fruition on New Year’s Day,” Handschin and Marfia said in the news release. “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.”