The float will feature in the grand procession on Alexandra's Centennial Ave today, starting just after noon. The parade traditionally attracts more than 20,000 people to the Central Otago town.
Titled "Bee Movie", the float is in two parts. The bee car, which is the towing vehicle, is a tiny Mazda 323, totally hidden under its canopy of bright red and yellow blossoms.
It will tow a large trailer carrying a giant bee and almost two dozen young people dressed in full bee costume surrounding float princess Ashleigh Anderson.
The fire brigade has entered a float in the parade every two years, with the last entry "Ice Age" taking second place in 2006.
Project manager Keith Nicholl said the design of the float was a team effort, with a group meeting held to decide what was wanted.
A design concept was put together and the float grew from there.
Families and friends of fire brigade members had worked on the float and helped make flowers. `It was a real team effort," Mr Nicholl said.
Contact Energy, which is the main sponsor of the parade, had provided a blossom flower cutter and the float building teams had taken turns to cut their flowers from crepe paper.
Mr Nicholl estimated they had used about 140 sleeves of crepe paper and 60 lengths of steel to make the float, which incorporated papier mache and various other bits and pieces of the float-making process.
Sixteen floats have been entered in this year's parade.
The most popular float wins $2000 with the winner chosen by public vote.
Prizes of $2000, $1000 and $500 are on offer for the schools and early childhood centre floats. There are three entries in that category, from Omakau Primary School, Clyde Playcentre and The Terrace School.
