The excitement began for members of the 501st Legion in early July when Edward Karl and Mark Fordham made the announcement for all Garrisons to submit videos of troopers marching. Videos needed to consist of white armored troops, so Stormtroopers, Sandtroopers, Clone Troopers, and Biker Scouts turned up to participate for the mysterious request. With only a month until the deadline, Garrisons quickly began organizing their troops.

The MWG alone submitted over 6 videos filmed at various locations. All in all, over 800 members were filmed with 45 being from the MWG (joined by Lisa Wetzel from Central Garrison). The secretiveness of the request added to the excitement and members were soon told the news: the 501st Legion was invited to march in the 118th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California!

The Tournament of Roses Parade, also known as the Rose Bowl Parade, began back in 1890 when former residents of the East Coast and Midwest moved to California and wanted to showcase the mild weather. Members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club wanted to "hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise." Marching bands and motorized floats soon became commonplace, and in 1902, the festival included the first post-season college football game ever. Stanford University and the University of Michigan were invited to play with the west coast team losing by an embarrassing score of 49-0. Fourteen years later, the football games returned to stay and have been nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All." This year saw the return of the University of Michigan facing off against USC.

This year's parade theme was "Our Good Nature" and featured two Star Wars floats. The Ewoks, the lovable bear-like residents of the forest moon of Endor, graced the first float with a message to "Save the Trees". Following the Ewoks was the beauty of Naboo's garden planet complete with Queen Amidala. California native George Lucas was asked to be the Grand Marshall for parade and tossed the coin before the 93rd Rose Bowl Game. Lucas has been entertaining audiences around the world for three decades and was a natural choice for this year's parade which coincides with the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars.

It was actually Lucas' idea to involve the 501st Legion. Steve Sansweet mentioned that this year's celebrations were going to begin with a tribute to Star Wars fans. And some of the biggest Star Wars fans can be found participating in the charity work of the 501st . Some 200 members of the Legion were picked from more than 20 countries worldwide. Troopers marched with their Garrison patch on their right shoulder armor and LFL provided country and state flags to one group of costumed participants to represent the Legion's international costuming group. Rebel Legion members were also asked to participate. Accompanying the costumed marchers was the world-famous Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band from Louisiana who provided musical entertainment for the Star Wars Spectacular.

Midwest members who participated were:

• TK0604 Luis Boileve
• TD0465 Steve Brejnak
• TC1900 Gregg Bywater
• TK0471 Pete Coe
• DZ6442 John Fitzsimmons
• TD0654 Phil Font
• TK6254 Dan Giese
• TK1421 Barry Hodge
• ID1241 Belinda Hodge
• DZ0101 Aimee Jorgensen
• TK5037 Jon Leopold
• TK1800 Rome Ohnui
• TK0321 Robb Roidt
• TK9776 Jason Steenbarger
• TK0585 Trent Thornton
• ID9989 Kathy van Beuningen
• TK0895 Michael Washko

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