By Claudia S. Alaniz
The 133rd Rose Parade has been more than two years in the making.
For Tournament of Roses President Dr. Robert Miller, it’s been five years in the making. Before the 2020 Rose Parade began, the Pasadenan was already planning — thinking up a theme, making a list of grand marshal hopefuls.
But planning for the 2021 production stopped, just like much of the world, in spring 2020. Summer 2020, Tournament officials cancelled the parade, amid COVID-19 concerns. The celebration has been cancelled only three other times, during wartime, in 1942, 1943 and 1945.
Coming back for 2022 is important not only for Pasadena but for the millions of viewers around the world, Miller believes.
“Every New Year we celebrate new beginnings. This year we get to celebrate healthy new beginnings, hopeful for a new year out of the darkness and into the light.”
A Tournament volunteer for more than 35 years, Miller kept the theme planned for the 2021 Parade: “Dream. Believe. Achieve.”
The theme, mainly touching on education, now will also celebrate “science and scientists, the first responders, healthcare workers — they have helped us get through the last 18-plus months,”
Miller said. “More than anything else we’re putting on a parade that screams, ‘We’re getting back. America is strong, and we can get through the hardest of times, especially a pandemic.’ ”
Public health and safety is top of mind, Miller noted, asking all volunteers and staff to be vaccinated, and follow recommendations and policy from local and state officials.
“We’re working with (our thousands of participants) to make sure they’re in compliance. We have a responsibility to make sure people are as safe as possible,” said Miller.
Tournament volunteers still put in thousands of hours in the community, helping residents in need during the pandemic.
Miller’s long career in education includes 20-plus years at Pasadena City College, where he served in several roles including president.
“I have a passion for community college education, for first generation and underserved populations, and breaking cycles in illiteracy and poverty,” he said.
Miller knows the challenges educators and students felt during the pandemic as they transitioned to online learning. Early in his career, he worked in a consortium to create tele-courses in the late 1970s.
“There still is something to be said for face-to-face instruction but along comes the pandemic, and by necessity it pivoted to online education,” he said.
Levar Burton as the 2022 grand marshal was a perfect fit for Miller’s theme and achieving through education.
“Education is the great equalizer,” he said. “Levar, who was a child of divorce, whose single mother was an educator, working so they too could rise above their modest beginnings.”
The longtime actor and host, including for “Reading Rainbow” for more than 20 years, continues to be involved in support of literacy for everyone.
Viewers can expect more extras in this year’s parade, but Miller is excited for the bands participating this year.
“We have 20 incredible bands, who have overcome and persevered,” said Miller. “Fundraising was incredibly challenging this last year and practices were not easy with the pandemic.”
One float will feature 295 band directors, riding or walking, representing every state, and including Mexico.
“This is a salute to band directors, who not only teach about work ethics, being in a team environment (and) discipline, (but also) life skills that music education provides,” Miller said.
The Millers will make the Parade a family affair with Miller, his wife Barbara (with whom he decorated floats in the early 1970s), their son and his wife, and daughter and her husband, four grandchildren, and his nonagenarian mother, riding down Colorado Boulevard to welcome 2022.
