News Release - The Huntington Reveals Design for 2020 Rose Parade® Float

"Cultivating Curiosity" Celebrates The Huntington's Centennial

SAN MARINO, Calif.— The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens revealed today the float design and theme for its entry in the 2020 Rose Parade®.

The theme “Cultivating Curiosity” captures the spirit of The Huntington’s Centennial Celebration and highlights the institution’s rare research materials, inspiring art collections, and unparalleled botanical gardens that have made it a beloved destination that welcomes 750,000 visitors each year.

“The Huntington’s incomparable collections have had an extensive reach over the past century, and we expect them to continue to inspire visitors, new and old, for the next 100 years in powerful and unpredictable ways,” said Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence.  “We welcome the national and international exposure that this celebrated parade provides and look forward to this joyful moment during our Centennial as a way of sharing our treasures with audiences the world over.”

Award-winning float builder Phoenix Decorating Company conceived the design and will produce the float that will mark the first time The Huntington has been represented in Pasadena’s world-famous Rose Parade in 50 years. The float depicts the following iconic elements in The Huntington’s collections:

Pavilion of the Three Friends 
Located in Liu Fang Yuan, the Chinese Garden at The Huntington, the Pavilion of the Three Friends is named for the “three friends of winter”: bamboo, pine, and plum. They are symbols of fortitude, integrity, and resilience. Carvings of these signature plants adorn the ceiling of the pavilion and also grow nearby.

Rose Garden Tempietto 
The centerpiece of The Huntington’s historic Rose Garden, the 18th-century French stone tempietto houses a sculpture, Love, the Captive of Youth, which depicts Cupid and his captor, a fair maiden. Appropriately, the tempietto is encircled by a bed of “Passionate Kisses” roses. The three-acre Rose Garden contains more than 3,000 individual plants and more than 1,250 different cultivated varieties (cultivars), including ‘Huntington’s 100^th’, the newly hybridized rose marking The Huntington’s Centennial.

Japanese Moon Bridge
Completed circa 1912, the distinctive Moon Bridge is an iconic feature of The Huntington’s celebrated Japanese Garden. Commissioned by Henry Huntington himself, the Moon Bridge was built by Japanese craftsman Toichiro Kawai.  The bridge’s high arch and reflection in the still pond below form a circle, reminiscent of the moon.