Tournament of Roses Parade® - The UPS Store and Junior Achievement USA®

The UPS Store Sparkled in 135th Rose Parade® presented by Honda on January 1, 2024, in Pasadena, California.

The UPS Store 2024 float titled "The Beat of Achievement", featuring a 35-foot-tall, animated crocodile was awarded the Bob Hope Humor Award for the most whimsical and amusing float in the parade. The float highlighted the company’s Start Small, Grow Big program with Junior Achievement USA® in support of future small business owners. This program launched in 2022 and has surpassed $3.6 million in customer donations across The UPS Store® network of 5,200+ locations, striving to educate students through programming in areas such as work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.

A Look Back at The UPS Store Floats

These floats wouldn’t be possible without the help of passionate volunteers who invest hundreds of hours gluing and placing every flower, seed, and leaf into place. The Sweepstakes Trophy is presented to floats for the most beautiful entry, encompassing overall float design, floral presentation, and entertainment. The UPS Store is honored to have won the Rose Parade's prestigious top prize in 2022, 2020 and 2019.

2022 float titled Rise, Shine & Read! recipient of the Sweepstakes Award, featured a colorful rooster standing on a stack of books, reading to his chicks.
2020 float titled Stories Change Our World, recipient of the Sweepstakes Award, featured a community of Tamarin monkeys, toucans, lizards, and sun conures in a majestic tropical rainforest.
2019 float titled Books Keep Us on Our Toes, recipient of the Sweepstakes Award, featured a ballerina-aspiring ostrich inspired by the famous story of Swan Lake.
2018 float titled Books Bring Dreams to Life, recipient of the Extraordinaire Award, featured an animated sea monster that “swam” down the parade route.
2017 float titled Books Bring Us Together, recipient of the Isabella Coleman Award, featured a 42-foot giraffe reading books alongside animal friends and the U.S. Marine Corps teddy bear.

The 2022 float is titled Rise, Shine & Read! 2020 float titled Stories Change Our

2019 float titled Books Keep Us on Our Toes 2018 float titled Books Bring Dreams to Life

2017 float titled Books Bring Us Together

The UPS Store's 2020 Rose Parade float featuring monkeys, birds and flowers

The UPS Store's 2019 float featuring a ballerina-aspiring ostrich

The UPS Store's 2018 float, featuring an animated sea monster

The UPS Store's 2017 float, featuring a 42 foot giraffe with animal friends

The Start Small, Grow Big program is an effort by The UPS Store to support the next generation of small business owners and entrepreneurs through Junior Achievement (JA) programming. The mission of the program is to offer youth the skills and knowledge they need to succeed for their professional futures.