Tournament Still To Decide Fate of Rose Queen Tryouts, Grand Marshal Selection

On the heels of the cancelation of the 2021 Tournament of Roses Parade, tournament officials are still meeting to determine how to proceed.

No announcements have been made regarding the queen or the grand marshal.

“The future of the Rose Queen, the Rose Court, the grand marshal, the president and his executive committee are unknown at this time and the Tournament of Roses’ leadership is still deciding how to proceed with those positions and will announce the decision in the near future,” The Tournament of Roses told Pasadena Now.

Initial interview sessions for the Royal Court have been scheduled for early September at the Tournament House.

Although there won’t be a parade, there is some precedent on how the tournament moved forward in other years when the parade was canceled.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor which plunged the U.S. into WWII, the parade was canceled. However, that parade had already been planned and Dolores Brubach chosen as Rose Queen. Bandleader and radio personality Kay Kyser was named Grand Marshal.

The parade was also canceled in 1944 and 1945, but the Royal Court was chosen in both years — Naomi Riordan and Mary Rutte — to preside over the Rose Bowl Game.

According to Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn, the stadium is still waiting for the final word on the football season.

“We do not have clarity at this point for the 2020 college football season,” Dunn told Pasadena Now. “We are preparing to have college football at the Rose Bowl, and we’re hopeful that will be sometime in late September.”

The Big Ten and the Pac-12 both announced last week that they would be playing conference-only schedules this football season.

However, several other college football leagues have already announced the cancellation of the season, including the Patriot League and Ivy League colleges.

Amy Wainscott, a Tournament volunteer since 1992, has been chosen elected to serve as the Tournament’s president in 2022. She will provide leadership for the 133rd Rose Parade and the 108th Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1, 2022.

Wainscott served as the first female chairperson of the Tournament’s Parade Operations Committee. She also has chaired Coronation/VIP Tailgate, Float Entries and Queen & Court committees. She was first appointed a Tournament chairperson in 2008 and named a Tournament Director in 2011.