DWTS Alum Headlining 2022 Rose Parade

ABC

The 2022 Tournament of Roses Parade is being headlined by “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol” alum Jimmie Allen, plus country superstar LeAnn Rimes and actor LeVar Burton. Here’s what else you need to know about the theme, floats, performers, hosts and more.

The Performers

Actor LeVar Burton will lead the 133rd Tournament of Roses parade as the 2022 Grand Marshal.

“LeVar Burton perfectly epitomizes this year’s theme.” Tournament of Roses President Bob Miller said in a statement. “The 2022 theme is ‘Dream. Believe. Achieve.’ and celebrates education and the determination of those who travel the path from dream to reality. I am proud to represent the 935 volunteer members in welcoming LeVar to share in the joy and promise of a healthy new year.”

The opening performer is none other than Grammy-winning recording artist LeAnn Rimes, who will kick off the parade with a “re-mixed and re-mastered song created especially for the 2022 Rose Parade titled ‘Throw My Arms Around the World,'” according to the Rose Parade press release.

Rimes will be accompanied by the Rose Parade dancers, the Mark Keppel Dance Company, the Rose Parade flag bearers, and four drummers, with the performance ending in a huge fireworks display to start things off during the two-hour parade.

Then at the end, the grand finale will feature “Dancing With the Stars” season 30 contestant Jimmie Allen performing his hit song “Good Times Roll” alongside the same dancers and flag bearers as the beginning of the parade, plus right before Allen takes the stage, four Golden Knights from the United States Army parachute team will drop into the street from a plane flying high above the festivities.

The Floats

According to the Rose Parade press release, the floats in the 2022 Rose Parade include:

• Donate Life’s “Courage to Hope” float, which is “the winged Lion of Venice from Italy’s Piazza San Marco, set amidst the Venetian Gothic architecture of the Doge’s Palace and Venice’s quintessential gondolas and canals.”
• Lions Clubs International’s “Quest for Kindness” float, which is “a lighthouse representing thousands of Lions clubs, programs, and events that serve as ‘beacons’ within their communities.”
• The Rotary’s “Changing Lives Through Education” float, which is a 16-foot-tall owl that ” embodies both the spirit of self-improvement and Rotary’s determination to make the tools of education available to everyone in every land.”
• The UPS store’s “Rise, Shine & Read” float that features “a colorful, spectacled rooster standing atop a stack of books, reading to his family of young chicks.”
• City of Hope’s “Garden of Hopes and Dreams” float, which will feature animated butterflies and mushrooms that “punctuate rebirth after a chaotic time, a metaphor for the sustained battle patients and their health care teams have against cancer, as well as a respectful nod to the dreamed-about eventual end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
• Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day float, “Seeding Tomorrow,” which “portrays a charming garden featuring its iconic “line lady” guiding a floral wheelbarrow overflowing with garden-inspired scents.”
• “The Masked Singer’s” “Anyone Can Happen” float, which features “larger than life recreations” of “Monster, who is flanked by Flamingo and Hamster,” plus the show’s “infamous, mysterious and occasionally dancing ‘Men In Black,’ who are seen guarding actual costumes on the show.”

The floats will compete for 24 awards across three categories — float design, float presentation, and entertainment value. The Rose Parade press release says the judges are “looking for creative design and thematic interpretation to floral craftsmanship and artistic merit, to computerized animation and visually well-balanced floats.”

The 2022 Tournament of Roses Parade airs live Saturday, January 1, 2022 beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern time on ABC.

READ NEXT: Watch the Sydney, Australia New Year’s Eve Fireworks Display