Christmas Parade 2014 - Los Banos Rotary Club Wins Arts Council Award!
Los Banos Chamber celebrates Christmas, Dr. Seuss
By Corey Pride
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Hundreds braved the rain last week for the Los Banos Chamber of Commerce’s 29th Downtown Christmas Parade.
Themed “A Dr. Seuss Christmas,” the parade featured 73 entries, including many from businesses and local nonprofits. School bands, horses and Santa Claus also took part.
“It went very well despite that horrible downpour. There were a lot of die-hards at the Christmas parade,” said Bertha Faria, the executive director of the Los Banos Chamber of Commerce.
The parade, which had a longer route this year, started at Fourth and H streets, moving south before taking left turns on K and Sixth streets and making its way to Henry Miller Plaza.
Faria said the streets were lined with people throughout the parade. She said the longer route provided more opportunities to have a good view.
“It gave more people the chance to have a front-row seat,” she said.
Megan Soares, who stood toward the end of the parade route, said it seemed to run smoother than in past years because she didn’t notice much time elapsing between entries passing her way.
Sandy Lemas who was assigned to the staging area, said one of the reasons there wasn’t much time between entries is because organizers placed stricter limitations on the length of performances in front of the judges on J Street.
As always, a contingent of veterans led the parade, accompanied by the American flag. Some parade entries featured vehicles strewn with Christmas lights others were organizations walking the route in Christmas attire.
The floats mainly followed the theme, focusing on Dr. Seuss’ various children’s books. Floats based on “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch stole Christmas” were popular.
“The Dr. Seuss theme really got people’s competitive juices flowing. We really had some amazing entries,” Faria said.
The parade concluded with a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Henry Miller Plaza and awards for various parade entry categories.
Suzy’s Zumba received the Mayor’s Award and the Los Banos Rotary Club was given the Arts Council Award. The Chamber President’s Award went to the Los Banos High Band and the Parade Sponsors Award was given to Morning Star Packing Co.
