The herald., 1897-02-28
EACH FLOAT A FLOWER
Elaborate and Artistic Prepara.
tiOns for La Fiesta
ALL HAVE THEIR STORY
From Legend and Opera, Fairy Tale and
History
The White Rose Of neutrality-suspicious.
From Koko's 0arden-cieopatra's Papy-
rus Palm, Lily and Panty

Already the public pulse is quickened
, with the thought Of the festivities Of the
coming Fiesta-La Fiesta de Los An
| geles-which for one week in April dom
! mates everything, with its lavish ex
| penditures, its perfumed rose pageants,
It's brilliant decorations, its music, its
| carnival.
| After three Fiestas we are just begin
ming to develop a carnival spirit to cul
| tlvate a love for holiday-making, to
stamp our fete with local color, to vivify
it with poetic inspiration, to give it an
aureole of splendor. and to show the
stranger within our gates what nature
and art have done for this beautiful
city-the city set in a circle of anne
thyst noun untains, rich with tropical YER
dure, and washed by the waters of the
blue, blue sea.
Each year the theme of our street pa
| geant has cost much deliberation on the
| part of those who decide upon the splen-
dors of the night parade. The motif of
| the official floats has been discussed
| long and carefully, and always with an
| eye to the most brilliant spectacular eff
| fects.
| luG IiOdl committee tHlS year consists
| of Adolph Petsch, F. H. Wachtel, Fred
Wood and C. d. Willard.
After due thought, 1t was decided to
| illustrate in the night parades this year
| a theme entitled
| THE LEGEND OF THE FLOWERS"
This legend will be told in sixteen chap
| ters, each chapter a flower, and each
flower a float
The sixteen floats, brilliant with color
| and manned by living figures will,
| therefore, represent through opera, tale,
| history or symbol the flowers they typi-
fly.
The selection of the legend was made
| by Mr.. Petsch, the chairman of the
| float committee. Mr.. Petsch is invalu-
able as chairman of the committee for
he is full of ardor and enthusiasm over
| the spectacular effects of his beautiful
| theme. He is watchful of every detail.
and deserves great credit for his work
| This week finds the floats almost con-
structed. The framework of all is up,
and several are almost finished.
| In the great warehouse In the western
part of the city the Robinson brothers,
who for two years have had charge of
the official floats, are again employed
Here the clay models, the skeleton
floats, the plaster casts and the papier-
mache work are scattered through the
great building. Ghost-like Cleopatras.
shapeless genii, ancient kings, harmless
gods and fairy-winged creatures are to
be seen on every side, while here and
there bit of brilliant color, a rainbow
or sunray, shows some story fast ap-
| proach1ng completion The sixteen flow
i ers selected by the committee have each
legend, charmingly told In the detail
| of the float.
THE WHITE ROSE.
This beautiful flower historically the
best known of the many badges or the
house Of York. is typiied in the float
| representing two historical scenes-one
garden scene, where Edward the duke
OF York, with Elizabeth Woodville is
litening to the court Jester. In the second
scene, Richard. the youngest brother and
last OF the house of Plantagenet. is leay-
Ing the castle for fight with Warwick.
He is just crossing the drawbridge. at
tended by knights and men arms. On
the base of the float are armorial in
sigma and hereditary embiems of the
house Of York.
THE POPPY.
The poppy float presents a scene from
rennyson's Sleeping Palace" Under
scarlet satin canopy lies the sleeping
| beauty fo
,TShe She sleeps; on either hand upswells
| Ihe gold-fringed pillow, lightly pressed I:
she sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells
| a PciIeCI IOFn IN perfect rest
Spider webs swing from the hanging
lamp, and around the palace on everS
hand. Sleep possesses the maid Of honor.
the page, the butler, the king. Before
tne princess stands the fairy prince
he stoops-to kiss heron his knee. "
and the charm is broken. All around the
oase or the float poppies are blooming
IN rlotous magnifcence. The night eff
rects OF this float are very beautiful.
CHRYSANTHEMUM.
The Chrysanthemum, the flower of
Japan, tells Its story in a scene from
Act. II. in 1.-The Mikado." The artist has
used the poets license in the song. "The
Moon and l." and has placed Yum Yum
swinging lightly in the silver crescent
| of the young moon in Ko Kos gardens.
Pitt1 and Peep are near her. A Japan
| ese villa Is in the distance, and the gar
den Is full of vases of riotous foliage.
The whole base of the float is in blazing
chrysanthemums. The two effects of
day and night are in this scene The
! villa In red and black, the storks, the
day colors, are in sharp contrast to the
cold moonlight and evening tones where
| the clouds are edged with silver light,
and the sheen of stars gliters in the
! heavens.
THE MORNING GLORY.
The morning glory has been taken as a
| SyIupOl OI Gu1QO Renl FAMOUS paint
ing, Aurora and Phoebus with the
Horae."
This float gives the artist glow of
color. The god of day, on his chariot, is
surrounded by the dancing hours scat
! tering flowers. The figures, the
deep blue of the sky. the golden car,
the cloud effects, Cupid with his burn
ing torch, are all subjects that the
| artist has spent lavish time upon.
Morning glories entwine the base of
the car in a sea of sky-blue bloom.
| PANSY
This dainty flower is illustrated in a
| scene from Midsummer Night S
Dream" in which dew, moonshine, gilt
tering insects, little genii with butter
ies and many colored overs fill a
fairy world
Under an immense mushroom Bottom
and Titania are standing, she paying
him tender homage with a coronet of
flowers. Euck the mad-cap sprita,
borne like the light and glittering
gossamer before the breeze" is near.
| Glow worms, moths, firefiies, beetles an.l
grasshoppers form the fairy court. AT
| the base a sea of pansies are rich with
colors of purple and gold.
THE NIGHT HT-BLOOMTNG CEREWS.
This magnificent flower that shuns
the Night, who is seated upon the earth