01 January 2022
The UPS Store Wins Top Award at 2022 Rose Parade®
National franchise’s literacy-inspired float earns Sweepstakes Award for third consecutive year.
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 1, 2022 – The UPS Store, Inc. made its fifth appearance in the 133rd Annual Rose Parade® today, winning the Sweepstakes Award for its float titled, “Rise, Shine & Read!”, which celebrates the transformative effect of childhood literacy through the Toys for Tots® Literacy Program.
The Sweepstakes Award is presented to floats for the most beautiful entry, encompassing overall float design, floral presentation and entertainment. This is the third year that The UPS Store won the parade’s prestigious top prize.
“Thank you to the Tournament of Roses for awarding The UPS Store, Inc. with the distinguished honor of the Sweepstakes Award and recognizing the efforts of our volunteers, builder and designer who brought our literacy-inspired vision to life,” said Sarah Casalan Bittle, president of The UPS Store, Inc. “It is an honor to be among other community partners who celebrated the return of the Rose Parade and continued the tradition of supersized visual storytelling.”
Themed “Rise, Shine & Read!”, the 55-feet long, 18-feet wide and 35-feet tall The UPS Store, Inc.’s float glided down Pasadena’s iconic Colorado Boulevard to celebrate the positive impact literacy can have on a child’s ability to succeed, and showcased the support of the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. Reading starts at home, so to depict this, the float’s animated design featured a colorful, spectacled rooster sporting a plaid waistcoat and bow tie, standing atop a stack of books, and reading to his family of chicks. Built by Fiesta Parade Floats, the float inspired children to rise up and let themselves shine bright through the power of literacy. Through reading, children can “Dream. Believe. Achieve.” – reflecting the overall theme of the 133rd Rose Parade.
From the exquisite floral design, vibrant color, and state-of-the-art engineering, this highly animated float was the tallest among the 40 floats at the parade. The float weighed at an impressive 48,000 pounds or 24 tons and featured 12 moving parts to bring to life the story of literacy. The hydraulic pressure was driven by a six-cylinder engine that pushed 24 gallons of hydraulic oil every 60 seconds at 2,000 PSI. The float was meticulously adorned with 130,000 flowers, from vibrant blue sinuate statice blossoms to 60,000 red roses.
As the Literacy Sponsor of this year’s Rose Parade, The UPS Store, Inc. partnered with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and Pasadena Tournament of Roses® to donate and distribute 14,000 books to Pasadena Unified School District elementary students and gave away 10,000 books at Floatfest – a donation that highlighted efforts of The UPS Store, Inc. for the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. Through the 5,000 store locations in communities throughout the country, The UPS Store® network has collected more than $7.3 million to provide more than 44 million books to children across the country since 2008. For more information visit https://www.theupsstore.com/literacy.
About The UPS Store
With approximately 5,000 locations across North America, The UPS Store network comprises the nation's largest franchise system of retail shipping, postal, print and business service centers. The UPS Store locations in the U.S. are independently owned and operated by licensed franchisees of The UPS Store, Inc., a subsidiary of UPS (NYSE: UPS). Services, products, pricing and hours of operation may vary by location. For additional information on The UPS Store, visit theupsstore.com.
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