Rose Parade sees enthusiastic crowd despite rise in COVID, RSV and flu cases

PASADENA, Calif. — Just before 6 a.m., Kelly and Nathan Alexander warmed themselves beside a roaring propane fire pit outside Total Wines & More on Colorado Boulevard as they waited for the Rose Parade to begin.

The parade — started in 1890 as a promotional event by a local social club to show off Pasadena’s famously mild winter weather — kicked off Monday under clear skies and temperatures in the 40s. It was downright balmy compared with the arctic blast that gripped much of the country the week before Christmas.

Kelly, celebrating her 37th birthday Monday, is an Arcadia native who grew up coming to the parade with her church youth group, camping out on the boulevard “millions of times,” she said.

Last week, the couple, who now live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, loaded their five kids — ages 8, 12, 14, 15 and 17 — into an RV, skirted snowstorms in Arizona, visited family in Southern California, then