We walked down to the Rose Parade on a cold but clear morning and watched most of the parade.  One of the things we liked was a band from Mexico and several floats from Asia.  This got my creative juices going and I had the idea that High School Students from Israel should have a marching band in the Rose Parade and the Jews of the San Gabriel Valley should make it happen.

A band on TV

The benefits to Israel are obvious; positive publicity, the promotion of tourism and normalcy.  Working to make it happen would give the Jews of the San Gabriel Valley a sense of common purpose, a task to accomplish and another reason to visit Israel.

Drill Teams

The benefit to the Rose Parade would be a new international market and revenue stream.

There are many objections to be overcome.  Security concerns, finding young people in Israel who want to join an American style marching band, financing and many more.  But it could be done and the benefits would far outweigh the costs.

The Salvation Army Band

The next step would be to find some people on the Israel end who like the idea and get a sense of how it could be done.  My estimate is that it would be a three to five year process and would cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

International Floats

One thought is that there are hundred of people associated with the Technion in Haifa who because of the connection to Cal Tech and JPL have lived in the Pasadena area.  Since they would be familiar with US marching bands and the Rose Parade they might form the nucleus to get the idea started.

My favorite float in 2011

If you have any interest in this idea please circulate it to others and let’s form an exploratory committee.  In a break from my usual role as solely the idea person I’d be interested in helping get this one started.  Conversely if you think that it is a unusually unrealistic idea even for me let me know.

See my album of Rose Parade photos on Flickr