These Inland Empire groups were in the 136th Rose Parade, here’s what it looked like

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The Inland Empire made its mark on the 136th edition of the Rose Parade on Wednesday, Jan. 1.

Inland groups joined an array of entries who walked, marched and rode the 5.5-mile parade route, seen by hundreds of thousands in person, and millions globally on TV and online.

This year, the Rancho Verde Crimson Regiment from Moreno Valley joined marching bands from around the world. It was the group’s second time in the parade, bringing Rancho Verde High School’s 190-strong band and color guard members to the 5.5-mile route.

The regiment, one of the larger competitive field bands in Riverside County, represents the Val Verde Unified School District campus near March Air Reserve Base. Band members are diverse and speak eight languages at home.

  • The Norco Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team rides through Old Pasadena...

    The Norco Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team rides through Old Pasadena during the 136th Rose Parade in Pasadena on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

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The Norco Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team rides through Old Pasadena during the 136th Rose Parade in Pasadena on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

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The Barstow color guard was the second group introduced in Wednesday’s parade. The mounted U.S. Marines group has led every Rose Parade since 1985, and are the only equestrian unit authorized to carry the American flag in the New Year’s Day procession.

The Color Guard, the last mounted unit in the Marines, wore historic uniforms. Its members rode palomino mustangs adopted through the Bureau of Land Management’s Adopt a Horse and Burro Program, according to the parade website.

The U.S. Marine Corps West Coast Composite Band, has Marines from the 1st Marine Division Band at Camp Pendleton, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band out of Miramar and the Marine Band San Diego at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Athena Zepeda, an organ donor from Riverside, was honored on the OneLegacy float, the 11th in line.

The float honored donors with memorial floragraphs. Zepeda died in November 2020 after taking a muscle relaxer that turned out to be laced with fentanyl, a November news release from Riverside Community Hospital states. Her heart went to a 13-year-old boy in Las Vegas, one of her eyes to a recipient in Chile, and her lungs, kidneys and liver to patients on the organ-donation waiting list.

Hospital employees wrote messages on floral vials to be included on the float.

Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo teamed up again. The two universities brought their float — depicting a day at the lake with Nessie the Lochness monster and her friends. The universities have appeared in the Rose Parade since 1949.

The float, complete with animatronics, won the Tournament’s Leishman Public Spirit Award for its floral presentation by a non-commercial participant. The universities have won more than 60 trophies, including the Crown City Innovator Award last year for their entry “Shock n’ Roll: Powering the Musical Current.”

Returning for their 11th Rose Parade ride, the Norco Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team was one of 18 equestrian groups.

The team performed maneuvers on horseback down the parade route. Its 15 riders wear black and hot pink rodeo shirts and hot pink cowboy hats.

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