Despite canceled flight, this Annville couple fulfills a dream as Rose Bowl petal pushers

Instead of spending New Year's Eve partying the night away or standing in the streets watching floating bologna being dropped from the sky, two Annville couples celebrated the new year by fulfilling a longtime dream.

Jerry and Nancy Brinser, along with friends Ed and Karen Copenhaver, took a trip out to Pasadena, California, days before the annual Rose Bowl, where Penn State face off against Utah.

But the Brinsers and Copenhavers didn't go all that way just to watch the game: They came to participate as petal pushers, a group of thousands from all over the country who volunteer their time to decorate floats for the Rose Parade, which takes place prior to the bowl game.

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After the Brinsers attended the Rose Bowl over a decade ago, it quickly became a part of Nancy Brinser's bucket list to help decorate the float.

"My wife is very interested in flowers, and she has a lot of flowers at home," Jerry Brinser said. "It's been a long-time dream of hers to do something like this."

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Luckily, the Copenhavers volunteered to help with floats for the 2019 parade and were able to guide the Brinsers through the event. The Copenhavers already had contacts and knew a bit about how the event was structured.

The group was still able to get to California despite their initial flight being canceled only four hours before they were supposed to depart, causing them to have to leave their Philadelphia hotel at 3 a.m. to return to their homes. The incident was caused by the widespread Southwest Airlines meltdown, Jerry Brinser said.

Luckily, they did not have checked bags at the airport and were able to book a flight two days after their original departure date.

"We didn't have any plans for Wednesday and Thursday," Nancy Brinser said. "Our decorating started on Friday, so we didn't really miss anything for what we were going out to do from being home for two days.

The Brinsers worked with hundreds of other volunteers in the three days leading up to the parade working eight hours a day cutting, trimming, and installing thousands of flowers.

They worked primarily on a float for Lutheran Hour Ministries, whose theme for the year was "A New Day with Jesus." The float featured the sun rising behind a church with Jesus standing at its opened doors.

Every float in the parade is decorated entirely out of organic material, whether that be flowers, seeds, fruit and even tree bark.

"The experience was great," Ed Copenhaver said, "and the experience for the Brinsers, it was fun to sort of watch them observe all that goes on in doing those Rose Bowl floats"

Nancy Brinser recalled one float that used halves of white and red potatoes to create the appearance of a brick wall.

In February, the themes for next year's parade will be decided and the year-long effort will begin again.

They were able to see their hard work pay off watching the parade in person, with the added bonus of going to the game and watching Penn State win.

Both the Brinsers and Copenhavers said they wish to volunteer as petal pushers again but haven't yet committed to next year's parade.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Annville couple fulfills buck list wish at Rose Bowl 2023