IT’S A ROSE PARADE THREE-PEAT!

RAIN BIRD’S 2003 FLOAT ENTRY,"WATER WONDERLAND," WINS THE SWEEPSTAKES TROPHY

The Leading Manufacturer of Irrigation Products Takes Top Honors for the 3rd Consecutive Year, and the 5th Time in the Past 7 Years For The "Most Beautiful Float," While Bolstering Its Important Message Of Environmental Preservation

The Rain Bird Corporation's Sweepstakes Trophy winner: 'Water Wonderland' passes along the 114th annual Tournament of Roses Parade Wednesday Jan. 1, 2003 in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

PASADENA, CA (January 1, 2003) - Rain Bird® Corporation, the world’s largest manufacturer of sprinkler and drip irrigation equipment, was awarded the prestigious Sweepstakes Trophy today in recognition of their 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade entry, "Water Wonderland." The Sweepstakes Trophy, traditionally awarded to the parade’s most beautiful float as determined by a panel of judges, has been won by Rain Bird in 5 of the last 7 years (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003), including the last 3.

This year’s winning float depicted an array of African animals gathering around a watering hole, and featured a family of magnificent elephants playing with their young. With five cascading waterfalls and 24 high-pressure misting nozzles, that used a total of 1,500 gallons of recycled water, the 55-foot long, 36-foot high float, continued Rain Bird’s past Rose Parade tradition of saluting the Earth’s most precious resource – water. This marks Rain Bird’s seventh straight Rose Parade award (Sweepstakes Trophy in ’98, ’99, ’01, ’02 and ’03; Presidents’ Trophy in ‘00 and the Directors’ Trophy in ‘97) since 1997, the first year that the company participated in the New Year’s Day tradition.

"This is a credit to all of our employees who worked so hard, and devoted so many hours, to turn this vision into reality. I could not be more proud of what our team has accomplished." said Rain Bird Senior Vice President Art Ludwick following the announcement. "It has never been more important than it is now to effectively communicate the importance of preserving our world’s environment. Our floats always convey the importance of practicing The Intelligent Use of Water™ to ensure that these magnificent animals depicted on our float remain available for future generations to enjoy."

Built by the award-winning Fiesta Parade Floats, and designed and flowered by the team of Raul Rodriguez and floral director Jim Hynd, the realistic textures and coloration of the animals on "Water Wonderland" were achieved through the use of exotic flowers, including black lichen, ming, fino and spanish mosses, safflower blossoms, cordon puffs, marigold petals, rolled oats, chive and onion seed. The cascading acacia trees were made from thousands of vibrant yellow Giant Oncidium orchids with the trunks covered in spruce bark that gracefully adorned the garden plateaus, colorfully sculptured in waves of Kimi, Curcuma and Torch ginger, Kniphofia tritoma, cymbidium orchid sprays and fluorescent hot pink Revel roses intermingled with King, Queen and Pink protea.

In addition, Jack Hanna (who has ridden on Rain Bird’s floats from 1999 through 2003), Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and host of "Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures," and Walter C. Crawford, Jr. (who joined Mr. Hanna on Rain Bird’s floats in 2001, 2002 and 2003), Founder and Executive Director of the World Bird Sanctuary, served as riders aboard "Water Wonderland," using it as a forum to spread Rain Bird’s important message of environmental preservation and water conservation.

Visit the 2003 Rain Bird Rose Parade Photo Gallery to see how Water Wonderland went all the way from concept to completion. Take a look at the 2003 Fun Facts page for more details about the float.