Highlights of the 2003 Tournament of Roses

Tuesday December 31, 2002

Some highlights of Wednesday's 114th annual Tournament of Roses:

Rose Parade grand marshals are comedian, actor and writer Bill Cosby, television host and author Art Linkletter and children's programming pioneer Fred Rogers.

The grand marshals will ride in a 1939 Packard Derham, once owned by Argentine President Juan Peron and his wife Evita and now owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Pasadena Mayor Bill Boggard will ride in a 1952 Chrysler Imperial once used as a parade car by Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

Classic and modern military aircraft will fly over the parade to mark the centennial of the first powered flight. Vintage aircraft, three jet-powered planes, two F-117s and a B-2 stealth bomber will pass over the parade route.

A Rotary International float commemorating Orville and Wilbur Wright's 1903 flight from Kitty Hawk, N.C., will feature a hydraulic replica of their plane periodically lifting off the float.

Strawberry Shortcake, the popular 1980s doll, will kick off her comeback campaign on a Strawberryland-themed float. DIC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and American Greetings Corp. want to reintroduce the scented doll and her friends to former fans who now have their own children.

Designers and volunteers logged an estimated 80,000 hours to produce the 54 parade floats.

In addition to the floats, there are 26 equestrian units, 24 bands and three special units.

The theme of the parade is ``Children's Dreams, Wishes and Imagination.''

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)