Ruby Cavanaugh Hits the Parade Circuit--Big-Time

COSTA MESA —  Her name adorns 25 restaurants in two states, and her face is splashed across thousands of menus.

But Ruby Cavanaugh, namesake for Orange County-based Ruby’s restaurant chain, will play her biggest role ever Thursday as she waves to millions of fans tuned in to the 109th annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

Cavanaugh, who will only say she is older than 21 but younger than 100, is the mother of restaurant co-founder Doug Cavanaugh.

In an interview here Monday, the Santa Ana resident said she has grown accustomed to seeing her likeness--taken from a 1940s high school picture--throughout California. And she is not nervous about her upcoming gig.

“I don’t have to do anything but wave,” she said.

The Ruby’s float, named “Summer Fun,” will feature Ruby waving from the back seat of a vintage yellow convertible with a surfboard hanging from the back and son Doug seated in front. The 35-foot-long float also will feature jitterbug dancers.

Ruby’s biggest dilemma is what to wear, although she says it will be some type of sleeveless summer dress in keeping with the float’s theme.

“It isn’t going to rain,” she insists. “It won’t be cold.”

Officials say the float, adorned with more than 200,000 flowers, will cost the chain about $50,000. The payoff is a one-shot opportunity to advertise the restaurant.

This is the third year Ruby’s has entered a float in the Rose Parade, but the first year Ruby will be on board, to commemorate the chain’s 15th anniversary.

Ruby, who was born in Missouri and came to California as a teenager, remembers attending her first Rose Parade in the late 1930s. “It’s amazing,” she says. “I saw that parade, now I’m in the parade.”