Rose Parade 2012: On Monday this year, why?

The no-Sunday policy was established more than 100 years ago, when horses were used to pull floats on the parade route in Pasadena.

According to marching.com, the year was 1893 and it was feared that horses tethered outside churches during Sunday services would be disturbed, which would in turn disturb churchgoers.

It will be the 18th time in the history of the Rose Parade that it was pushed to a Monday. Read: Occupy Rose Parade marchers set to go

The organizing committee that pulls off this spectacle on a yearly basis is also responsible for producing the Rose Bowl football contest. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses works with commercial sponsors worldwide as well as municipalities throughout the country to produce floats that are decorated in a way that demonstrates that year's theme.

Miss the parade? KTLA, Channel 5 in Los Angeles has video of it all.

The 2012 Tournament of Roses is built around the phrase, "Just Imagine" which means that the level of creativity will be dialed up from its usual level. This year's Grand Marshall is J.R. Martinez, war hero and this season's reigning champion on "Dancing with the Stars."

Many viewers have no idea how a float is built and how long it takes to create something that is covered in vivid colored plant material while reflecting that year's theme. It takes hundreds of people, sometimes more than a thousand to assemble and decorate each float. It is not glamorous work and is performed by corporate employees of a float sponsor and thousands of volunteers.

Some of the more well-funded floats, usually those sponsored by famous brand products hire renowned artistic directors/designers to create the concept and oversee the construction of the float, including the use of electronic wizardry that it takes to make a float perform certain functions while moving along the parade route.

The volunteers who decorate the structure usually work in large warehouse spaces iin and around Pasadena. They are directed to perform one task at a time, sometimes taking a full day or more to complete.

For example, a person can be shown dozens of boxes of small leaves taken from a particular type of plant or flower and told to glue them all in the same direction on one small part of an immense frame of a float. Video posted below for reference.

The Rose Parade's sponsor is Honda and Vizio sponsors the Rose Bowl football game. This year's bowl game features the University of Wisconsin and Oregon University. The game begins at 5:10 pm ET, telecast by ESPN. The Tournament of Roses, Rose Bowl and Rose Parade are all registered trademarks of
Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Image: Wikimedia/UCLA90024