The zoo’s float, featuring giant pandas, wins the Sweepstakes Trophy for most beautiful entry.
The San Diego Zoo’s float, adorned with giant pandas, received the prestigious Sweepstakes Trophy at the 136th Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day. This award is presented to the most beautiful entry, encompassing float design, floral presentation, and entertainment.
The float, titled “Friendship Across The Earth,” showcased the zoo’s newest residents: five-year-old male panda Yun Chuan and four-year-old female Xin Bao. These pandas, the first to arrive in the United States in 21 years, made their public debut at the San Diego Zoo on August 8, 2024, a day proclaimed as “California Panda Day” by Governor Gavin Newsom.
In addition to the giant pandas, the float featured representations of the zoo’s red pandas, Lucas and Adira, and Connor, the Malayan tiger. The 55-foot float was adorned with over 700,000 individual plants, including bamboo cultivated by the zoo’s horticulturists, highlighting the zoo’s status as an accredited botanical garden.
This marks the second consecutive year the San Diego Zoo has received the Sweepstakes Trophy. Their 2024 float, themed “It Began With a Roar,” also earned top honors.
Paul A. Baribault, president and CEO of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, remarked, “Giant pandas have an extraordinary ability to unite us. The symbolic presence of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao at the Rose Parade, a storied New Year’s tradition, celebrates the power of nature and conservation as a unifying force.”
The 2025 Rose Parade, with the theme “Best Day Ever,” celebrated life’s best moments, with the San Diego Zoo’s award-winning float serving as a highlight of the event.
