The 2024 Rose Parade is just three weeks away and preparations for the participating floats are well underway. Hundreds of volunteers will spend the next month hammering, gluing, and painting 40 elaborate floats.
Part of the preparation also means temporarily suspending outdoor dining along Colorado Boulevard. Several restaurants along the parade’s route are being forced to shut down their outdoor dining by this Thursday to prepare for the massive event.
“So the businesses along the parade route that have the outdoor dining are asked to remove all of the equipment by Dec. 15,” said Lisa Dederian, City of Pasadena, Public Information Officer.
After removing the pavilions, the City will clean the sidewalks and stripe the parade walk.
“The float drivers actually look at stripes along Colorado Boulevard and that’s their guide for how to navigate throughout the parade route,” Dederian said. “We’re getting great support especially in the playhouse village area where they help support the outdoor dining.”
While many restaurants are supportive, one restaurateur is not pleased with the timing and believes the city could have requested the dining shutdown closer to parade day. With his restaurant being closed, he fears he will lose a lot of business.
“Every year we have to do this,” said Juan Anaya, owner of popular restaurant, Anaya’s. “Rose Parade is something beautiful that we have to enjoy every year and let’s get ready.”
The end of the year is Pasadena’s busiest time for tourism and this restaurant is temporarily losing about 60 seats and the owner says four weeks without that seating will take a big bite out of business.
However, Anaya says post-Covid he has gained so much more from Pasadena allowing permanent outdoor dining for his customers.
“Thanks to this patio and Pasadena helping with this, we’re here,” Anaya said “Anaya’s survived.”
Next year he hopes the city decides to dismantle the patios closer to parade day.
The city’s goal is to have the outdoor dining set back up by January.
“The partnership between the City, Playhouse Village and the businesses is to remove these every year for the parade and put them back as soon as we can in January,” said Brian Wallace, Playhouse Village Association president.