This year’s Rose Bowl Parade had a touch of Wylie in it.
That’s because 2010 Wylie Grad Alex Bryant helped build the “How To Train Your Dragon Float” that was part of the annual New Year’s Day tradition.
“It was truly an incredible bucket list experience I will hold very dearly for the rest of my life,” Alex said of his part in creating the float.
Alex grew up in Great Britain and came to Abilene because his father was in the military. After graduating from Wylie, he attended Angelo State University and moved to Los Angeles to follow his dreams. He is frequently in the local news because of his accomplishments. His work and volunteer efforts have brought him in contact with many Hollywood stars.
Alex said he was working at Bravo, a subdivision of NBCUniversal, when he got the opportunity to work on the float. While working at Bravo, he volunteered at DreamWorks Animation and NBCUniversal and that volunteer work included building the float.
Alex said he knew that the Rose Bowl Parade floats were elaborate and built out of live plants, but he had no idea how much detail went into the creation.
“It truly takes a collective force of volunteer decorators who are dedicated to their assignments to prep and/or place the flowers or organic plants to the appropriate locations of the float,” he said, adding that each plant paints a piece of a picture.
“It was definitely surreal to grow up watching this annual parade as a child, to years later with the prestigious opportunity to decorate a float with seeds, fruits, vegetables and flowers to literally create ‘moving art’ for the world to admire,” he said.
See pictures here of Alex and the Rose Bowl float he helped create.
