Mellano and Co. provides Rose Parade flowers - Mike Mellano Sr. rides on Kit-Kat Clock float

The 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade involved two floats which utilized flowers from the Mellano and Company nursery, including one whose riders included Mike Mellano Sr.

Mike Mellano Sr. rode on the Kit-Kat Clock Company float, which was one of two floats certified by the California Cut Flower Commission and the California Secretary of Agriculture as using California-grown flowers. The other float was the Cal Poly float, to which several of the state’s growers including Mellano and Company donated flowers.

The nephew of Mike Matthew Mellano Sr. is Bonsall resident Mike Anthony Mellano. Mike A. Mellano and his wife, Valerie, served as ambassadors for the California Cut Flower Commission. During the December 30 viewing session they answered questions for visitors and passed out California-grown stickers, although most of that evening involved setting up the activities for subsequent days. Mike and Valerie Mellano were based at the Cal Poly float, which is built by students of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona.

“It was a lot of fun to get to visit with the kids,” said Mike Mellano.

Because the Tournament of Roses Parade is never held on a Sunday, this year’s Rose Parade took place January 2. Karen Ross, the state’s Secretary of Agriculture, spent New Year’s Day in Pasadena certifying the Cal Poly and Kit-Kat floats as California-grown. Mike and Valerie Mellano participated in the certification of the two floats.

“It was actually very exciting that the secretary herself would actually come down and do the job,” Mike Mellano said.

More than a dozen California growers from Arcata to San Diego County donated flowers for the Cal Poly float. In addition to Mellano and Company, the growers who donated flowers included Resendiz Brothers in Rainbow and Kendall Farms in Fallbrook.

“We’ve had a tradition of always trying to supply them with fresh California flowers. We’ve been doing that for a long time,” said California Cut Flower Commission chief executive officer and ambassador Kasey Cronquist.

Mike Mellano Sr. obtained his bachelor’s degree at Cal Poly Pomona before earning his Ph.D. at the University of California Riverside, while Mike Anthony Mellano has both a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from UC Riverside.

Mike A. Mellano oversees the San Luis Rey farm of Mellano and Company, which was founded by his grandfather in 1925. The wholesale operation is still in downtown Los Angeles, while development in the Artesia/Cerritos area forced the growing operation to be moved from there to San Luis Rey in the late 1960s.

Mike A. Mellano is also the first vice president of the California Cut Flower Commission as well as the District 4 commissioner and the chair of the Research and Economic Development Committee. He is a past president of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

The Tournament of Roses Parade was first held in 1890, and while many floats in the past were almost certainly decorated entirely with California-grown flowers the California Cut Flower Commission had never certified a float as “California-grown” until the Cal Poly and Kit-Kat Clock Company floats were certified for the 2012 parade. “There was much more of a partnership this year,” Mellano said.

“It was really exciting to have two floats for the first time as actually California-grown,” Mellano said. “We’re really excited to be a part of that.”

The Cal Poly float is self-built by the university students, so flower growers are willing to donate crops. Kit-Kat Clock 4Company purchased flowers from Mellano and Company and other California growers.

Mike Mellano Sr. is now retired from day-to-day operations but still maintains a presence at the San Luis Rey nursery. He had a Kit-Cat clock in his childhood. The first Kit-Kat clock was manufactured in 1932 and the 2012 Rose Parade was part of the company’s 80th anniversary celebration. Kit-Kat asked the California Cut Flower Commission about state flower growers which could supply the components of the float.

Kit-Kat had a contest to fill the eight seats on the float, asking interested clock owners to tell their stories about their Kit-Kat clock. Mellano was one of those chosen. “He had everything that they were looking for in the criteria,” Cronquist said.

“He had a great time,” Mike A. Mellano said. “You can tell he really enjoyed being on the float.”

Cronquist notes that the California Cut Flower Commission’s goal is to double the number of certified California-grown floats for the 2013 parade.

“I just feel that this was a fantastic opportunity for the Rose Parade,” Cronquist said of the Kit-Kat float. “Having Mike on the float was just icing on the cake.”

To comment on this story online, visit http://www.thevillagenews.com.