2011 Heart of the Harbor Parade

The Heart of the Harbor Parade was held on Sunday December 11 in Wilmington, Calif. in the early afternoons  of a sunny day.  The parade started at 11 a.m. and went into the early afternoon showing event goers and array of entrees ranging from classic cars driving down Avalon Blvd., to marching bands that include Banning High School and the Long Beach Junior Concert Band (LBJCB).

Parade participants had to show up around an hour before the start of the parade in order to ensure their place in the program.  A few event participants included the Los Angeles Fire Department, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and the Shriners of Long Beach.  Ronald McDonald was actually in attendance as the main attraction for the charities float making sure that he was able to wave and bring a smile to all the children in attendance.

LBJCB had the honor of representing the City of Long Beach in this years parade in fine fashion with well over 70 young members from the Long Beach and Norwalk region.  While the band itself had to meet early at their band hall located on South and Orange Street, the drum section continued their tradition of going to Rudy's Diner located on Anaheim in the industrial district of Wilmington just beyond Ninth Street.  The drummers would play a small show for those at Rudy's who have backed the band in support and allowing the drummers to take up a major portion of the diner and play "loud, thunderous drums" as best said by Rudy's patron, Denise Hofmann of Long Beach, Calif.

The Wilmington parade marks the last holiday parade for LBJCB this parade season and will be taking a much needed break to celebrate the new year and holidays with friends and family.  Lonny Daquiado from LBJCB grew up in Wilmington and remembers going to the parade as a kid and seeing the bands, "The best part of the parade was when I was old enough to be in it because I loved seeing and hearing the crowd when the band came down the street."

58th Annual Daisy Avenue Parade

In the heart of the Wrigley District of Long Beach, Calif. marches a parade that has been going strong for 58 years now.  This tight little community hosts a Christmas parade that is unlike any other in the city in that it may be smaller than the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade but it has all of those in the community working together to host a wonderful event.

"Daisy Lane", as many who have been around the parade before have called it, was held on Saturday December 10 and hosted floats from the boy scouts, Long Beach Firefighters Association, and high school bands coming from the Long Beach Unified School District.  Long Beach Wilson High School is usually a hold out on this parade every year but for the past couple years have come to enjoy marching in this Long Beach tradition. "I'm really glad that we get to do multiple Christmas parades now instead of just the one in Belmont Shore," say's Wilson senior Arturo Juarez. Other bands to be included in this years program was the Cabrillo High School marching band,  Jordan High School J-Town band and the local favorite who had marched this parade in honor of their late band director Marvin Marker, the Long Beach Junior Concert Band (LBJCB).

Marker used to be the parades announcer every year and would announce a very exciting and eventful parade but two years ago Marker had done his last Daisy Lane parade due to a heart attack brought on by Diabetes.  This year along with last years parade, LBJCB has worn a black arm band around their uniforms to honor the memory of their fallen director.  "The black armband is a subtle reminder of the man who started our band and who was such a big part of Daisy Lane," says LBJCB alumni drum major Ian Wright.

The parade wraps around both sides of Daisy Avenue where there is a park-like center divider that holds parade goers, parade announcers and officials, and it also holds Christmas decorations set up by both the City of Long Beach and the community themselves.  The good thing about this particular parade in Long Beach is that participation is completely free so as long as a participant could get their application in on time, they can be in the parade. The difference between this parade and the Belmont Shore Christmas parade for example is that participants must obtain a sponsor from the Belmont Shore Business Association (BSBA).

The 5 p.m. step-off is perfect for a nighttime even such as this because it gets the community excited for the evening along with the Daisy Avenue events that happen on this day.  These included a Snow Day in which the city brought is mounds and mounds of snow so that attendees can play in the snow.  There was also a movie night shown in the median on Daisy Avenue and other post parade shows provided by the parade goers themselves.

60th Annual Downey Christmas Parade

This December marks the 60th annual Downey Christmas Parade which was held on December 4th at 1:30 p.m. and hosts participants from all over the Downey area including Long Beach, Norwalk and North Park.  The start of the parade is at the corner of Lexington and Downey Avenue and traveled south on Downey to Third Street, then east to the Civic Center where the parade ended.

Every year at the end of the parade there is a festival of sorts that is put on by the City of Downey to celebrate the holiday season.  Downey High School band hosts a booth in which they sell cooked food, cold beverages and warm beverages to those who are cold at the end of the parade.  Dustin Willis, an alumni of Downey High School talks about the convenience of the booth to the parade goers, "We receive hundreds of people every year at the booth especially for the hot cocoa and water that helps parade goers warm and refreshed waiting for the award ceremony."

The Downey Christmas Parade is also a competitive parade in which entrants are judged in different categories that include, float design, high school and youth band, and individual groups coming out of the community.  Contestants from the high school and youth bands category include Downey High School Marching Band, Norwalk All-City Youth Band, and the Long Beach Junior Concert Band.  Floats in the parade included the Country Inn of Downey, the Downey Elks Lodge, the Downey Rose Float Association and Divine Talent Kids Music.

"The parade almost didn't happen this year from my understanding," say's Willis.  Due to the closure of the streets at Lexington and Third Street, mobility in and around Downey would be greatly hindered and most parade will have to deal with the closures if they are coming from out of the area.  There were about 200 entries in this years parade and it was estimated that the Chamber of Commerce for Downey had taken out about $2 million in liability insurance for the event.  No parade is without some sort of police presence and the Downey police was out in fine fashion making sure that parade goers were enjoying a safe and fun parade.  The city has planned to reimburse the Downey Police Department and the public works service $10,000 for their involvement and service to the parade.

This years Downey parade hosted some great weather and even better participants.  Downey and Warren High School bands showed the crowd a great show along with the floats and walking participants.  Next year if you are looking into going to a Christmas parade in the southland, check out the Downey Christmas Parade for you might enjoy the pomp and circumstance of the parade and the festivities held at the Civic Center.

It's A Green Christmas

This year marked the 29th Annual Belmont Shore Christmas Parade and its theme for this year is "It's a Green Christmas", which is to encourage all entrees in the parade to incorporate a renew, recycle, and reuse theme into every float or participant.

For the past couple weeks, Belmont Shore has been getting ready for the holiday season by decorating Second Street with lights and poinsettias.  The culmination of all the preparation for the holidays comes to a head on the first Saturday of December when the people of Belmont Shore throw a Christmas parade.  In attendance for this years parade were local celebrities like Mayor Bob Foster and City Councilmen Gary DeLong.  Also there were many high school bands in attendance that included the Poly High School Marching Band, Millikan High School Band, and Wilson High School Band that leads in Santa Claus.

In the 29 years of the parades existence, the Long Beach Junior Concert Band (LBJCB) has led the parade in fine fashion and this year they showed all of Second Street that they still have what it takes to lead the parade.  "It really is an honor to have been the lead band for this parade ever since it started," states current band director of LBJCB, Dave Schaafsma.

The parade spans just over a mile and covers 14 blocks that every participant must do twice because the parades starts on one side of Second Street and comes back on the other side.  The reason for this years "Green" theme was to pay tribute to all the city has done to improve the environment by putting solar powered trash compactors on Second Street known as Big Belly's.  Just about a quarter of the way through the parade is the T.V. area where all participants will perform something if there is something to perform, for example a cheer routine or christmas songs played by a band.  The Last Generation of Syncopated Drummers (LGSD) had stopped in formation just prior to the T.V. area and then started their "in camera performance", as best put by Fred Rawlings of LGSD to show the crowd in attendance and at home what they were all about.

This parade brings more and more people to it every year and this year was thought to have over 50,000 people in attendance with 75 entrees that showed the people of Belmont Shore a really good time out on a Saturday evening.

33rd Annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade

The 33rd Annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade was held on December 2, 2011 with participants ranging from Boy Scout troops to the 2011 champions of the Little League World Series.

This years Grand Marshall's are Kim and Steve Masoner who are known locally for their involvement with Save Our Beach, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving our water quality along the Southern California coastline.  Along with the Masoner's was the 2011 Little League World Series champions from Ocean View Little League in Huntington Beach, Calif.  Ocean View Little League had beaten the little leaguers from Japan on August 28, 2011 and now have come back to wish us all a very merry Christmas by being the Junior Grand Marshals for this years parade.

This years parade had gotten so much bigger than previous years that an entire section of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) had to be shut down and diverted down to Bolsa Chica Ave.  "In past years, parade entrees would finish just prior to PCH and have to make their way back to their way back to their vehicles that were often on the other side of the heavy traffic that had accumulated on PCH," states a one John Rivers who has been an attendee of the parade for the past 10 years.

This years parade has also mean a lot to parade goers emotionally since the tragedy this past fall.  Lisa Brown of Even More Salon gave her deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the victims, and she went onto talk about how the need for the parade this year, "tonight's parade is good for the people of Seal Beach because it allows us to have a good time with the upcoming holidays while still remembering those who left us so unexpectedly."

This years parade had about 110 entries and over 3,000 participants coming from all over the city and among these entries was the Los Alamitos Marching Band who stopped over at the T.V. area and played a few Holiday favorites for the crowd to make sure that they were pumped for the cold evening ahead of them.  Thousands were in attendance for this years parade and it still managed to make it feel like a small town parade for a beach city.

2011 Hollywood Christmas Parade

Sunday November 27, 2011 marked the 80th Anniversary of the Hollywood Christmas Parade.  This years parade was hosted by co-hosts Erik Estrada and Laura McKenzie. Both were set up just outside the Kodak Theater on Hollywood Boulevard to commentate on all the groups and floats that went through the T.V. area.  The Grand Marshall for the parade was Marie Osmond who has performed on stage, television, film and recording for almost five decades.

Some of the participants in this years parade consisted of bands like the Long Beach Junior Concert Band(LBJCB) and the Santa Ana Winds Youth Band.  There were many celebrities that came down the parade route, for example there was Vivica A. Fox, Metta World Peace aka Ron Artest, and from Disney's "Shake it Up", Kenton Duty.

Drum Major for LBJCB, Ian Wright had a few things to say about the event, "The parade seemed to have a really great turn out this year and everyone seemed to being loving the band as we came down the street."  According to Wright, this year had marked the bands 50th year in the Hollywood Christmas Parade as "the band that leads in Santa."

The parade route that is littered with parade goers and the local LAPD stretches down Hollywood Boulevard to Vine St. and back down Sunset Boulevard towards the staging area for the bands which was located on La Brea Ave. situated between Sunset and Hollywood Blvd.  This 3.5 mile parade route has been the main route for the past couple years despite the several improvements being made to buildings on La Brea and Orange.  In the past the parade was televised on the night of the parade itself by local news media including the more notable KTLA-5 but due to the lack of interest over the years an money that comes out of this parade, the parade is now shown on a delayed taping.  Last year for example, the parade was shown on the Hallmark Channel in mid-December and Christmas.

"It's a shame that the parade never got the national attention like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade did," said Wright when asked if this Hollywood Parade should have national coverage, "I just think that it's Hollywood and that it should be a lot bigger than it currently is."  The parade was broadcasted live from the Hallmark Channel this year and will be broadcasted again by Hallmark on December 12 at 6 p.m. in case anyone had missed the original taping of the event.