LOS ANGELES, Dec 28, 2005/ FW/ --- While almost everyone in the U.S. is thinking of New Year’s Eve parties, Pasadena, California has the 2006 Tournament of Roses on its mind.

Six days from now, the 177th Rose Parade® with the theme, ‘It’s Magic’ has the fifty-foot-tall Bayer Advanced&trade ‘Jack and the Rose Stalk,’ a reinterpretation of the fairy tale, ‘Jack & the Beanstalk’ as the lead float.

"We've been honored to have won an award in the Rose Parade every year since we first entered it in 2001," said Bayer Advanced Marketing VP Mark Schneid in a statement. "But we're most excited about our Jack and the Rose Stalk float because it's unique -- our own magical interpretation of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale, but with roses."

The Jack & the Rose Stalk float was personally chosen by Tournament of Roses President Libby Evans who said, "It's a spectacular representation of the 2006 Rose Parade theme -- 'It's Magical.'"

Designed by Phoenix Decorating's Michelle Lofthouse, who has designed all of the award-winning Bayer Advanced Rose Parade floats, the Jack & the Rose Stalk float features the All-America Rose Selection’s award-winning roses for 2006.

The giant rose stalk is made of real roses, as well as sculpted roses made of strawflower, carnation petals and everlasting. There are 750,000 blossoms, including 25,000 roses in the float.

It took 20,000 hours to create the float, which is the second tallest float in the 2006 Rose Parade.

The parade, which will be televised starts 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. ET) on Monday, January 2, 2006. There will be 48 Floats, 25 Marching Bands, 23 Equestrian Units, 3 Official Vehicles and Sandra Day O’Connor as Grand Marshall.

The parade is 5 ½ miles and will take the following route: North on South Orange Grove Boulevard beginning at Ellis Street, east on Colorado Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard, north on Sierra Madre Boulevard to Paloma Street.

Expected attendance in approximately 1 million spectators, plus millions more on television. The 2006 Rose Parade will be broadcast live by ABC, NBC, Univision, Tribune (KTLA), KWHY-22, HGTV (Home & Garden Television), Sky Link TV, the Discovery HD Theater Channel and the Travel Channel.

For more information please log on: www.tournamentofroses.com