"We look forward to another successful and award-winning float for the 2025 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade," Chun said.

Estes said he was still grappling with the closure of his company, which he founded in 1988. Building Rose Parade floats had been a childhood dream, he said. When he was 8, he helped decorate his first float, he said, and played around the floats with a friend.

"I've always enjoyed crawling through them as a kid," he said. "I was fascinated by how they were built."

He said although he struggled financially in the end, he took immense pride in his workers, a "great crew," he said, who contributed to the company's long success. The full-time staff at the warehouse now numbers around 18. Several have been with the company for more than 20 years.

He said that in the past three years, 17 of the company's 18 floats won awards.

Estes said he informed workers about the association's decision June 21.

"God, it was murder," he said. "To stand there and tell them what's going on and that they're going to be out of work soon… it's a horrible f—ing feeling."

Since then, Estes said he has been unable to sleep. He worries about the workers' well-being and how he'll manage to clear an entire float-building warehouse.

He said he's had to move three times before and each move ended up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and it took about three and a half months. He said he has two weeks left to vacate the building.

He's not the only one to lack sleep.

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