Grand Marshals of the Rose Parade

Below is a list of Grand Marshals of the Rose Parade. This is an honorary position selected by the president of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association. Many marshals are picked for a relationship to the theme that is also picked by the president. Traditionally, the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade also participates in the coin toss during the Rose Bowl Game.

History

The 2022 Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game was led by Grand Marshal LeVar Burton, while 2023's event was led by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

2020 featured three Grand Marshals: legendary Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Rita Moreno, Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernández & Firefly star Gina Torres. However, the next year no Rose Parade was held due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. It marked the first time such a thing happened in 130 years.

Ten-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan was chosen by Tournament of Roses Association president Gerald Freeny as the Grand Marshal for the 2019 Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game.^[1]

Actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise was chosen as the 2018 Tournament of Roses Grand Marshal by its president Lance Tibbet on October 30, 2017. Sinise is known for playing the role of Lt. Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump.

The Disney family is the only family to have more than one member serve as Grand Marshal: Walt Disney was the 1966 Grand Marshal, then his nephew Roy E. Disney held the post in 2000. Additionally, Mickey Mouse was the grand marshal for the 2005 parade. A number of years have featured multiple grand marshals, with the most in one parade being 1952, when seven Medal of Honor recipients were the grand marshals. Dr. Francis F. Rowland has been the grand marshal more than any other person - a total of seven times, in 1890, 1892, 1894, 1904, 1905, 1910 (this year sharing this duty with Prof. Charles F. Holder), and 1916. Former child actress Shirley Temple Black holds the runner-up position, having been grand marshal three times in 1939, 1989 and 1999, the latter year where she shared this honor with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, baseball player Jackie Robinson (who was also the first ever posthumous grand marshal) and film producer David L. Wolper.

On May 9, 2014, Louis Zamperini was selected as the Grand Marshal for the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade,^[2] though he died of pneumonia two months later,^[3] and six months before the parade was set to begin. Rather than select a new Grand Marshal, the Tournament announced that it was "committed to honoring him as the Grand Marshal of the 2015 Rose Parade," making him the first posthumous grand marshal since Jackie Robinson in 1999. At the parade, the formal honour was given to son Luke Zamperini (with his wife Lisa son Clay) and daughter Cynthia Garris (with her husband Mike).^[4]

On November 3, 2016, the 2017 Grand Marshals were revealed to be three Olympic athletes: Greg Louganis, Janet Evans and Allyson Felix.^[5] The Olympians were deliberately chosen to reflect on Los Angeles' bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[6] This was the first year with multiple Grand Marshals since 2003, when Bill Cosby, Art Linkletter and Fred Rogers all shared this duty.