By Danrochelle D. Yumul
Out here, we learn early that the San Fernando Valley is its own place. It’s morning traffic on the 101, weekend errands at Topanga, Dodgers flags on porches from Pacoima to Porter Ranch, and family-owned spots that have been holding it down longer than most people have lived here. It’s high school football lights, park birthday parties, studio jobs, small businesses, and neighborhoods where everybody has a story, and everybody has an opinion about what counts as “the Valley.”
So when someone says, “Let’s put the 818 on the world’s biggest New Year’s Day stage,” it lands differently. For decades, the San Fernando Valley has been the backdrop of Southern California stories: movies and music, small businesses and family traditions, backyard citrus and neighborhood pride. Yet on one of the region’s most visible stages, the Valley is sadly absent.
A volunteer-led nonprofit wants to change that.
The San Fernando Valley Rose Parade Organization is rallying the community around a bold goal: bring what it calls the Valley’s first float to the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2027. It’s not just about flowers and pageantry. It’s about representation. It’s about the Valley showing up with its name on the parade route, its pride on full display, and its identity impossible to miss.
At the helm of this campaign is none other than My Valley Pass, the official visitors’ guide of the San Fernando Valley. In an interview with Tony Cabrera at ABC7 last month, Valley local and My Valley Pass founder Oscar Urrutia shared what this float would mean to the community.
“It’s an international commercial for the Valley, of all its film history, all the culture that’s here. Like I said, we’re a big part of Los Angeles, but we’re forgotten, so this is kind of our way of saying, look, the Valley is something unique and different,” said Urrutia.
Because of all the ways the Valley powers L.A., from entertainment to aerospace, the perception gap is real. We’re often treated like the punchline, the “other side of the hill,” the place you pass through, not the place you celebrate. This float effort is a chance to flip that script with something unmistakably ours: a community-built statement that says the San Fernando Valley isn’t an afterthought. It’s home, and it deserves its moment in the spotlight.
And, the timing also feels right. Last month, the Tournament of Roses announced the 2027 theme: “Welcome,” a celebration of belonging and the welcoming embrace of community. For the Valley, built on neighborhoods, cultures, small businesses, and “we’ve got our own thing going on” energy, the theme almost reads like an invitation: come on in, pull up a chair, you’re part of this!
That’s really what this campaign is. It’s more than a float. It’s a shared Valley project with a clear finish line: raise the funds, rally the volunteers, and roll into Colorado Boulevard with something that tells the extraordinary story of the 818.
For locals, organizations, and businesses who want to get involved, donate, and volunteer, visit sfvroseparade.org for ways to support the effort.
Danrochelle D. Yumul is the Communications Manager of Cowe Communications. Follow @CoweOfficial or visit cowe.com for more.
