IT'S BEGINNING TO SMELL A LOT LIKE ROSES... FRESH FLOWERS FOR GLENDALE FLOAT ARRIVE JUST IN TIME.

Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer

PASADENA - The Tournament of Roses parade is just days away but decorators for the Glendale float say they'll be ready.

Adding fresh flowers to the 35-foot float started Wednesday and is expected to be completed today, giving them a day to spare before Saturday's 111th Tournament of Roses Parade.

"We've been way ahead of schedule and had lots of good volunteers," said Paul Estep, crew chief. "We've had more than we needed so we can do a better job."

The city of Glendale float is one of 107 entries in the annual New Year's Day parade. The theme this year is Celebration 2000: Visions of the Future.

After weeks of decorating Glendale's float with dry flowers, buckets of fresh flowers poured into the assembly area at the Rose Palace in Pasadena on Wednesday. Volunteers crushed flowers, cut tea leaves and pasted flora.

When the float is completed, it will feature 30 different types of flowers. Nearly 400 volunteers will have spent thousands of hours attaching seeds, dry and fresh flowers to the float.

Armineh Dereghishian, 14, has wanted to decorate Rose Parade floats since she was a child. Now a high school freshman, this is the first year she's been eligible to volunteer.

She signed up to help build the float earlier this month and to volunteer one day to attach fresh flowers.

"I've been waiting all these weeks to work with the fresh flowers. Today is the first day so I'm having a lot of fun," she said as she pasted tea leaves on a foam flower stem.

Dereghishian said she's had so much fun that she'll volunteer for years to come.

Carmen Julian-Jones has been working on the float for more than a decade. She's cut flowers, decorated and is now an assistant crew chief. The 40-year-old Glendale resident spends the entire week, from Dec. 26 to 30, working on the float.

She enjoys the camaraderie, catching up with her friends and watching the float come alive.

But by New Year's Day, Julian-Jones plans to be enjoying the float from her living room.

"It just doesn't look as good from the side of the street after being so close to it," she said.

The city of Glendale has entered the parade for nearly 90 years.

Though the city picks up the cost of the annual entry, the non-profit Glendale Rose Float Association raises money throughout the year to help cover the expense.

The city usually spends about $60,000 on the float but this year, it's costing $90,000. Some $30,000 will be covered by the float association.

"We wanted to do something special for the millennium," Estep said.

The float includes moving butterfly wings and the dog's tail is wagging.

Earlier this year, a controversy erupted when the basset hound was named "Party Animal." Naysayers contended the name was unfit to represent a sober city. The name was dropped but the basset hound stayed.

Since then, a cottage industry has grown around the dog. First there were T-Shirts and stuffed animals created in her likeness. Then pins and mugs were put on sale.

Next year's float design will be picked by the end of February, Estep said.

Estep said hundreds of Glendale residents volunteer year after year.

"It may seem strange to some folks but you have a sense of pride," he said. "The prizes are second. Although certainly accepted and appreciated, we do this for other reasons."

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, map

Photo:

(1) Susan Ashamalla, 15, left, and Heather Belichesky, 15, glue lima beans to the Glendale float. Both are volunteers from Hoover High School.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(2) Carmen Julian-Jones puts strawflowers in a blender as she works on Glendale's "Having fun yet" float Wednesday.

(3) Anna Tamm, 16, left, and Vincent Tamm, 17, work on the butterfly part of Glendales's "Having Fun Yet" float Wednesday. The cousins are volunteers from Glendale High School. The Tournament of Roses parade is Saturday.

Map: Rose Parade route