Festival Float Incorporated
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Orange Bowl Committee
setName: label: See more items in
content: Orange Bowl Collection
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1985-1996
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1191, Series 6
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Series 6, Renderings/Drawings document floats as they appeared in a conceptual state. Each rendering varies in size from several inches to several feet wide and were realized on an assortment of paper sources that varied in both weight and durability (tissue, tracing paper, vellum, posterboard, etc). The artwork was created utilizing an assortment of mediums including acrylic paint, pastels, watercolors, markers, pens, etc.

In most cases, it is possible to connect a rendering with a float as it appeared in the parade.  Often the float mirrors the rendering exactly as it was conceived however, in most instances, slight modifications were made.  Every attempt was made to identify all renderings, but it was not always possible for a number of reasons: 1) there was not enough information on the renderings to connect it with either a year or a sponsor. 2) The concept was never produced, it remained a concept only. 3) The concept was markedly different from the realization making it unrecognizable when it appeared in the parade.  4) The renderings were destroyed by weather related damage, mold, etc and had to be destroyed before it arrived at the Archives Center. 5) The float may have been in the parade but there was no existing photographic record to help identify it.

Both national and regional corporate sponsorship can be seen throughout the renderings.  Longstanding national corporations like Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Kodak, Coppertone, Anheuser-Busch, Sears, etc. were an annual part of the festivities as were regional businesses like The Miami Herald, Southern Bell and Winn Dixie.  Many of the renderings have been developed without a sponsor in mind; some, however, have been cultivated specifically for corporate sponsorship.  In most cases, sponsors supported the proposed float and patronage can be verified throughout corresponding photographs.  In some instances, however, the proposed float was never realized, may have changed patrons, been rejected by the supporter in favor of another float or the sponsor may have withdrawn from that year's festivities altogether.  It should be noted that the renderings document float concepts for several companies that no longer exist, including Margaret Ann Grocery, Jordan Marsh, Eastern Airlines, etc.  

Throughout the history of the parade, several artists contributed to production of the renderings, the most prominent being Stanley Burger. Burger, a former engineer from New York, started out by designing nuclear submarines for the U.S. Government. Later, he moved to Florida where he began designing sets for the Jackie Gleason Theater of Performing Arts in Miami Beach and eventually settled into being the official float designer for the Orange Bowl committee in the early 1970s.

Every effort was made to identify other artists involved with the production of the renderings either before or after Burger but a lack of information on these artists made it difficult.