Honda’s "Ship of Dreams" Rose Parade Float to Set Sail with Seven Youth Philanthropies on Board

Today Honda revealed its 2010 Rose Parade float entry and announced that it will again be the official Tournament of Roses vehicle and continue as one of its longest-running sponsors. Honda’s Rose Parade float, “Ship of Dreams,” is a three-masted sailing ship captained by a model of the company’s ASIMO humanoid robot and featuring seven of Honda’s philanthropic partners that help improve the lives of children. Representatives from each of the organizations will be riding on the float when it sets sail during the 121th Rose Parade, themed “A Cut Above the Rest,” on Friday, Jan. 1, 2010 at 8 a.m. PST.

“Honda always brings a great amount of care to their Rose Parade entry and we hope that this world stage will bring benefit to their youth and education philanthropic partners featured on the float,” said Bill Flinn, chief operating officer, Tournament of Roses.

The sails on the 45-foot-tall, 75-foot long Ship of Dreams feature the names and logos of the seven Honda partners including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, College Bound, National Youth Project Using Minibikes (NYPUM), Pediatric Therapy Network, Ride for Kids, Special Olympics Southern California, and Students Run L.A. To learn more about the organizations and for links to their Web sites, please visit: http://corporate.honda.com/roseparade.

“All the nonprofits joining us on this year’s Tournament float are long-time community partners and represent more than 120 years of working together to help fulfill the dreams of children and respond to children in need,” said Stephan Morikawa of American Honda Corporate Community Relations.

As part of Honda’s sponsorship of the Tournament of Roses, the 2010 Acura ZDX will lead the parade as the pace car. And, annually Honda provides vehicles, Metropolitan scooters and generators for use by Tournament personnel. Honda’s multipurpose utility vehicle, Big Red, will also make its Rose Parade debut this year. Honda is one of the parade’s longest-running corporate sponsors, and its Rose Parade float entries have captured major awards in 14 out of the last 15 years.

Videos featuring some of these nonprofit organizations will be featured over the next few weeks at Honda’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/honda.