Los Angeles, Calif. — When you watch the New Year’s Day Rose Parade, think of Mitchum Owen working behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Paris Native Owen founded Milo Digital LLC, a website development company which built and operates custom software for the Tournament of Roses Foundation to help manage hundreds of entries and thousands of participants from around the world in the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade.
Mitchum Owen is the son of Jerry Owen and Mary Kay Dykes and he was the Henry County High School Valedictorian in 2001.
Owen said this year’s parade will be a welcome return to the yearly event, which was cancelled last year due to COVID concerns. Hhowever, this year’s parade presents special challenges with travel restrictions, new health department guidelines, and the requirement that thousands of participants receive a proof of negative vaccination or negative test result before the parade, he said.
As everyone knows, the Tournament of Roses Parade is the annual parade held in Pasadena to mark the start of the Rose Bowl Football Game and the beginning of the new year. Each year, the parade is attended by nearly 700,000 spectators, and the parade is live broadcast nationwide with an estimated 37 million viewers watching.
The 133rd Rose Parade presented by Honda will return on January 1, 2022 after a two-year hiatus.
The eagerly anticipated annual event was canceled for the first time in 75 years due to COVID concerns in 2021. The 2022 parade theme is “Dream. Believe. Achieve.” and celebrates education’s ability to open doors, open minds and change lives.
Owen said this year, the parade is addressing unique challenges related to COVID, including travel restrictions and new health department guidelines. For example, band directors are being encouraged to group their members into cross-sectional pods, so that if one member tests positive for COVID, any required quarantine of nearby members would be spread out over several band sections rather than removing the entire trumpet section.
Additionally, the health department is requiring thousands of participants to submit proof of COVID vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test result. This requires soliciting, collecting, and verifying thousands of documents in a short time window before the parade.
Owen said to help organize the hundreds of parade applicants, thousands of participants, numerous staff and volunteers, and thousands of forms, Milo Digital built custom web-based software that streamlines and automates much of the process. The participant portal allows prospective entries to apply for the parade. Once accepted, the portal expands to collect the various details about the organization’s entry and the numerous legal and compliance documents required for running such a large live-person event. The portal sends follow-up reminders automatically and provides dashboards for volunteers and staff to manage the various workflows. The software organizes the data collected, selectively grants role-based permissions, and generates reports used by law enforcement and informational brochures for live broadcasters as they introduce the floats, bands, and equestrians to the nationwide television audience.
Since 2009, Milo Digital has built custom website software to solve organizational challenges for many recognizable brands, including FOX Networks Group, Hyundai Automotive, Blue Microphones, Pillow Pets, and many more.
Photo: Mitchum Owen and husband Justin Kiang at the 2020 Rose Parade.