The Granada Hills Holiday Parade: Photos!

I've never been able to get through the Granada Hills Holiday parade without getting verklempt for at least a minute. This year it happened when I saw Semper Fi Towing's flatbed full of U.S. Marines, since I recently lost a Marine Corps family member.

I have a great time poking fun at our hokey hometown parade, but I kid because I love. It's long, it's slow, it's corny, and it's ours.













A very small drill team member gets in some playground time before the very long march.



Sue Stephenson of Orange County PT Cruisers does some last-minute decorating.






The bees thought this young lady was a flower, and who could blame them?






Yummy bacon-wrapped hot dogs -- just like Hollywood!






The little bit of snow left over from the Christmas show at Petit Park is a big thrill for the kids.







And new snow is falling!













Hey, I was wrong: there were Black Panthers! Power To The People!






Most of us peasants had to watch from the sidewalk, but some people...






I don't know him, but I'm going to assume that Steve Falzone is a joker... and maybe a smoker, and perhaps even a midnight toker. The Dude abides.






Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council's entry evokes our hippie heritage. As a matter of fact...







There were hippie signs...














There were hippie kids...






...and even hippie horses.

















Drill teams marched...






Followed by helicopters.






Is that thing street legal?






Hey look! A corporate logo!








There were Superstars






and Cougars






and Bulldogs.






Tommy, friend of Rollers Only. His truck window says, "At Last."







Javier of Rollers Only even had a pimpin' hat to match his pimpin' ride.







Rinaldi Adult School Flower Child Steve Steinberg even grew his hair long for the occasion.






Steve and his peace march brought the most impressive sixties style of any entry. "I made a mix of sixties music with Christmas music back and forth, so we're definitely doing the sixties."






Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...






...In fact, there's two. Isn't that illegal?
















"We come here every year with our families! We like the floats, and the cars!"










Would you quit being so judgmenta... oh, never mind.





And the crowd went mild. You could have heard a pin drop when the WalMart mobile went by --maybe that's because the parade is a celebration of community, not corporations. WalMart may have contributed cash, but they contributed almost zero flair to the parade, which is supposed to be about spectacle. Okay, so they had a balloon. Couldn't they have at least grabbed some tinsel or a fake tree on their way out the door?








Banda Sierra Brava's lead dancer brought his A game for two whole miles. Best in show!






How do you say, "Dude, you're totally rockin' the party!" in Spanish?

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 7, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    The little girls in the red and black with the Santa hats and sunglasses are cheerleaders NOT drill team members.

    ReplyDelete
  2. L.J. WilliamsonDecember 7, 2009 at 4:20 PM

    Please don't yell at me. It hurts my feelings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A. DeVandryDecember 10, 2009 at 11:32 PM

    Good recap! There are more photos online at

    http://www.ghnnc.org/simpleviewer/2009/parade/album/index.html

    and

    http://www.ghsnc.org/photos/2009/parade/album/index.html

    ReplyDelete

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