Several of the floats on the preview tour didn't seem anywhere near completion in time for the main round of judging on Dec. 31, but everyone along the tour route ensured observers that the floats would be finished in time.

Hundreds of volunteers were found climbing on, walking around and seated at work tables at nearly every square foot of the float preparation site. For a nominal fee any person could volunteer to work on a float.

Larger-than-life purple roses were assembled under the sketch of the "Roseville" float. Interestingly, the building didn't have a floral fragrance; instead, it smelled of glue and paint. Previous parade-goers assured first-time attendees that they would catch whiffs of flowers along the parade route as the finished floats passed by.

Yet another float seemed to have weeks' worth of work awaiting to be done, but volunteers were very active, seeming to be fully aware of the looming deadline. The final round of float judging occurs at 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time on New Year's Day, when many parade-goers are awake and getting ready to board buses to the ticket-only grandstands. As of Tuesday evening (Dec. 30), many curbside "campers" were already staking claim to their ground-level parade perches in Pasadena.

In a stroke of luck, the Penn State alumni touring the tent came across four Penn State students who were volunteering for float construction duty along with one of the student's parents. Inside their paper bucket was the total of their two hours of work disassembling flowers. Check back at Penn State Live for a video interview of the students to be posted soon.