A Cow, a Fiddle and a Diddle Diddle Inspire 2022 Rose Float

Cal Poly Universities’ 2022 Rose Float tells the tale.

“Stargrazers” features a 600-pound cow with a jet pack soaring over the moon, aided by a cat who has put down his fiddle to manage mission control.

The float combines the whimsy of the classic nursery rhyme with the hard work of making dreams a reality. As the only student-built and designed float in the Rose Parade, “Stargrazers” will bring a unique engineering twist to the parade’s theme, “Dream. Believe. Achieve.”

The Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Rose Float student team began designing the float concept in 2020. Once the parade was confirmed for 2022, students began turning those plans into reality.

“Stargrazers” is the first float to be constructed at Cal Poly Pomona’s new $5.5 million Don Miller and Ron Simons Rose Float Lab and Design Complex. The approximately 14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor workspace includes a fully enclosed 7,200 square-foot float construction bay. The lab is named after two Rose Float alumni — the late Don Miller (’52, horticulture), who got the Rose Float program started in 1948, and the late Ron Simons (’64, agronomy; ’69, food marketing and agribusiness management), who kept it going and ensured that it thrived.