SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, January 1, 2026, the San Francisco float, ‘Believe in San Francisco,’ will participate in the 137th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, which will be the first appearance in almost 50 years. It was 1978, when a San Francisco float last represented the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Gearing up for the 2026 Rose Bowl Parade is San Francisco Travel, which is representing San Francisco. By using Rose Parade, San Francisco wishes to use it to plug its tourism economy, which would rebrand San Francisco after the pandemic.
San Francisco Travel float will have the theme ‘The Magic in Teamwork,’ which will celebrate iconic San Francisco landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Painted Ladies and San Francisco’s Chinatown and the spirit and diversity that is San Francisco’s landscape.
There will be public involvement and decorating that happened in December 2025, which will lead up to the January 1 event.
From Friday, December 19, 2025 to Sunday, December 21, 2025, there was a public float decorating event at Union Square in San Francisco, where community members helped adorn the float. In August 2025, San Francisco Travel made an announcement that they will return to the Rose Bowl Parade.
In 1917, San Francisco began its participation in the Rose Parade. From 1917 to 1978, San Francisco was represented in the Rose Parade 43 times. In 1978, due to extravagant costs of sponsoring a float, San Francisco stopped participating in the Rose Parade.
