It wasn't your ever day street scene, even for the most experienced of commuters.

But there they were, in their undecorated state: Seven Rose Parade floats making their first convoy over to Pasadena from Azusa on Tuesday night, Oct. 29.

It was a coordinated and slow-moving process, essential for floats to get to their final decoration spot, officials said.

And that they did - slowly.

These first few floats included: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, OneLegacy, Kindness is Free Powered by Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley and Eastside, The UPS Store Inc., Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation, Travel South Dakota, and Explore Louisiana.

All were built by the Azusa-based Artistic Entertainment Services (AES), a design, and fabrication studio that has built Rose Parade floats for decades.

Kyle Amerine, AES' Rose Parade project manager, has been involved in the parade for 20 years now.

He said the floats weigh around 50,000 pounds and only travel at 5 miles an hour, making the journey to Pasadena hours-long and only possible via residential streets.

The floats are led down streets annually by the California Highway Patrol.

Despite the floats being in their folded-down positions, electrical wires still have to be propped up with a long pole to ensure no floats hit them, adding to the slow ride.

Navigating tight streets, it took around two hours just to get the floats lined up on the street in preparation for the convoy.

"It's exciting and fulfilling to see these floats come together, and the joy and happiness it brings to people's faces on January 1," Amerine said.

Floats take around two to three months to be built depending on the intricacy of the design, he said.

Floats this year, such as the San Diego Zoo float, which has many moving animation aspects, is a little more complicated than the OneLegacy float, which doesn't have many moving parts.

The Tournament of Roses theme this year is "The Magic in Teamwork." One float, the Kindness is Free Powered by Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley and Eastside, is called "Building Kinder Communities." It depicts the three little pigs and big bad wolf in its design.

Kindness is Free is a program that started in 2020 to "empower youth to understand the importance of equal treatment, respect, and compassion for others through words and actions," officials said.

Putting a spin on the classic fairytale and fitting the parade theme and ethos of the local initiative, the wolf and pigs are seen working together to build a sturdy house.

Another float, The UPS, Inc. float titled "Sharing Skills for Success," depicts a team of seahorses learning a synchronized swimming routine.

Starting the journey to Pasadena by heading east on First Street in Azusa, the convoy gives neighbors an early sneak peek at float designs before they go to AED's Pasadena site - Rosemont Pavillion, just steps away from the parade route.

Azusa resident Anissa Potts brought her mother to watch the floats go by.

"When I was younger, I used to come to this warehouse with my aunt, uncle and mom to decorate the floats," she said, smiling as she recalled the memories. "It was one of the best memories I had growing up. I have so many great memories of decorating floats and then seeing them on New Year's Day on the parade route."

As an adult, attending the Rose Parade is an annual family tradition.

"It's so beautiful to see," Potts said. "Even if a tow truck is dragging it, I think they always look beautiful. We're super excited to see them all decorated."

"The Rose Parade is like our SuperBowl," she added. "This is everything to us and Southern California has it."