In a warehouse in Pasadena hundreds of volunteers are decorating floats for the Rose Parade with flowers grown right here in California. 

Dave Link has been volunteering for the Tournament of Roses Parade for the last 25 years. This year, he’s chairing the Operations Committee, which he describes as a little like being a stage manager for a play.

“So we're here with all the VIP vehicles for the Rose Parade,” says Link as he inspects an antique San Marino fire truck.

“We have the Grand Marshal vehicle, the President's vehicle, the Mayor's vehicle and a Hall of Fame inductees vehicles, all antique cars specifically selected by the President for this year's parade.”

“Morning, how are you?” asks Link to a volunteer.

Unlike any other play, this show has antique cars, 42 parade floats, 20 marching bands, 18 equestrian units and over 900 volunteers. Link’s job is to call the show so it all runs smoothly. Today, he’s making sure all the volunteers have everything they need, which in this case, is lots of flowers and glue. 

• COMPLETE ROSE PARADE COVERAGE

Ann Looshier traveled all the way from Texas to volunteer. 

“This is actually kind of fun,” says Looshier. “We are helping build the floats and loving it. It’s just the greatest opportunity in the world.”

Link sits on one of 31 Committees so with volunteers spread out across multiple warehouses and campuses, it’s a flurry of activity. With just a few days to go, there’s still a lot of work to do. 

“Did you guys get the picks set up for the scaffolding? All good?” asks Sydney Strong, a volunteer in charge of building one of the floats.

“It's so much more than just an engineering project,” adds Link. “Because there's leadership responsibilities, there's design responsibilities, there's welding, there's mechanics, there's decorating, there's sculpture.”

And sculpting with flowers is not easy. 

“We're going to be using all sorts of things,” says Strong. “Like marigold, protea, roses, Gerbera daisies, all sorts of different things and this year we’re actually going to be playing around with red cabbages.”

And kale. It is Los Angeles after all. 

“This parade could not go down the street without thousands of volunteers like these folks who come here every year to sit in the cold and do this very tedious but fantastic work that makes for a beautiful Rose Parade,” says Link.

And every year, one way or another, it all comes together.