Effort being made to get San Fernando Valley its first float in next year’s Rose Parade

VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES () — It’s been just a week since the Rose Parade, but the work has already started on next year’s floats – and there’s an effort being made to create one for the whole San Fernando Valley for the first time. We caught up with “My Valley Pass” founder Oscar Urrutia at the Valley Relics Museum to hear all about it and his pride for this corner of SoCal.

“My first football games to soccer to restaurants. Like I said, the Valley has been kind of the epicenter for me for everything, said Urrutia, who was raised in Lakeview Terrace.

In fact, Oscar loves it so much, that 15 years ago, he founded “My Valley Pass,” which is a visitor’s guide to the San Fernando Valley Now, he’s taking it to the next level, hoping to share the Valley with the world, through a float in next year’s Rose Parade.

“It’s an international commercial for the Valley, of all its film history, all the culture that’s here. Like I said, we’re a big part of Los Angeles, but we’re forgotten, so this is kind of our way of saying, look, the Valley is something unique and different,” said Urrutia.

It would be the very first float representing the Valley and thanks to corporate sponsors in the area, they’ve already raised half the money it would take to make it happen. Now, Oscar looks forward to volunteering on the float, alongside his mother, a retired florist from the Valley.

“Every year she would watch the rose parade and I just thought, well wouldn’t it be great for one year for us to be in this,” he said.

It costs anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 dollars to build a Rose Parade float and enter it in the parade. So far, they’ve raised half of that amount, but they need help with the second half. To help, or to get more information, go to sfvroseparade.org.