Friday, December 31, 2004

Dark Side of the Rose Parade III


The crowding begins. Posted by Hello

UPDATE: 12:10 PM Pasadena Standard Time

It rained heavily throughout the night an up to about 11:00 AM this morning. Rain is expected to diminish tonight, with chances of rain during the parade tomorrow about 20%. Like most native Pasadenans, I chose to do a round of shopping early in the morning, even with the rain. In Old Town, most of the businesses with large glass display windows put up plywood, making the commercial district look like it was expecting a hurricane, or a riot, rather than a crowd of spectators.

At noon today campers were legally allowed to put up chairs, blankets, tarps and other necessities in order to mark out a space for the parade. It seemed as soon as the rain ceased they came out of the woodwork, like a bad lot of termites. The picture above is one small example of the increasing crush of people that will build today and get worse in the morning.

More updates to follow.

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