Former NM Supreme Court Chief Justice Nakamura to be a float judge for 2024 Rose Parade

Judith Nakamura’s love of the Rose Parade can be traced back to her early childhood. Growing up, Nakamura said her family spent every New Year’s Day watching the parade on television.

“It’s a beautiful event,” she said.

She gained acclaim as a chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and judge at Bernalillo County Metropolitan and District courts, but before that, she was raised in Rio Rancho and even worked for the Observer.

Nakamura, 63, and her family was part of that “New York migration” to the city in 1972 or ’73, she said. She attended Taylor Middle School for a year, then went to Cibola High School, graduating in 1978. She supplied copy about what was happening at CHS for the Observer, delivered newspapers and was even on the staff for a few years while attending CHS.

She now serves as president of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta board of directors. A longtime balloonist, she flew in her first Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in 2003.

She still spends every New Year’s Day watching the parade. She even tapes the parade so she can go back and watch it if she’s interrupted.

Fifteen years ago, she decided to traded in her TV screen for the real thing. She made the trip to Pasadena to watch the parade in person.

“I did all the touristy things, toured the floats, went to the parade, it was a dream come true,” she said.

As an avid lover of the parade, Nakamura was used to receiving emails from or about the Rose Parade in her inbox. But one particular email she received from the Rose Parade on July 11 seemed different from the others.

“It said, ‘We’re sorry to reach out to you in this manner, but we’re having trouble getting your phone number, will you please give us a call?’” she said. “I thought it was spam.”

The email had come from Russell Thyret, the director and chair of the judging committee for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, which hosts the Rose Parade.

Using her investigative skills, Nakamura said she researched Thyret and discovered it seemed to be a genuine email. With that information, Nakamura decided to call the Tournament of Roses.

“I called and they said, ‘We’ve been looking at having a closer relationship with other big events in the United States, and we were thinking of reaching out to the Balloon Fiesta,” Nakamura said, “and you’re the president.’”

“Is this serious?” Nakamura said to the officials. Yes, it was serious. Given her background as a judge and her experience helping run a large tourist event like the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Nakamura would be a perfect fit to judge the 2024 Float Awards, Rose Parade officials thought.

Fast forward to Thursday, when Nakamura plans to leave Albuquerque for Pasadena for a long five days. Nakamura said that upon arriving in Pasadena, she will receive a binder filled with the roughly 40 floats they will be judging. She’ll spend her first night studying each one. The next day, she and the other judges will go through an orientation course about judging the floats.

She and two other judges will be in charge of giving out 24 awards to Rose Parade floats based on three categories — float design, floral presentation and entertainment value.

On the third day, they will go out and visit each float during their first judgment day. This first day will focus solely on grading the float on rough 30 sets of criteria, according to Nakamura. “We visit every venue, (the floats) are not all in the same spot and each judge has a binder and you’re walking around and grading,” she said.

Each float must feature a visual balance of floral and non-floral materials, but still remain predominantly floral in appearance.

On New Year’s Eve, Nakamura and her fellow judges return to each float to evaluate their performances, which include float riders, outwalkers, pyrotechnics and showmanship.

Both judging days can last as long as 12 hours, Nakamura said. At the end of the second day, Nakamura and the other judges will meet that night and decide who wins which award.

On New Year’s Day, prior to the start of the 135th Rose Parade, the Float Award winners will be announced. After two grueling judging days, Nakamura’s work will finally be done.

She’ll be free to settle in and watch the parade, live and in person, she grew up loving.

“So much of my youth, my childhood, I remember watching the Rose Parade and I saw some videos of judges from the past and they are right up close and the floats and the performances are performing for you,” she said. “I’m very excited about the opportunity.”

And, she told the Observer, she received two tickets for the Rose Bowl game Monday afternoon: No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Alabama.