With a joyful display of floats, marshals, bands and more, the 69th annual parade gave the community Claus for celebration.
“There’s No Place Like Home (for the Holidays),” according to the theme of this year’s 69th annual La Jolla Christmas Parade, which showed off the community and surrounding region with joy expressed in music, bubbles and more Dec 7.
Rolling down to Girard Avenue and Prospect Street per usual, the parade featured an extensive number of entrants in floats, classic cars, marching bands, equestrian groups, dancers, pageant queens and more, including multiple plane flyovers.
Several marshals were recognized during the parade: Grand marshals, tribal Chair Stephen W Cope and tribal Vice Chair Victoria Diaz of the Kumeyaay San Pasqual Band; military marshals, Adm Rich Jarrett and Brig Gen David C Hyman; Founders’ Circle marshal the Manchester family; heritage marshal Kim Avant, general manager of the Grande Colonial Hotel; entrepreneur marshal Craig Sewall of The Promiscuous Fork; and civic marshal Cody Petterson, president of the San Diego Unified School District Board.
Among the numerous floats, “Best Overall” float went to Stella Maris Academy; “Most Holiday Spirit” to All Hallows Academy; “Most Original” to the Dan McKinney YMCA; “Santa’s Favorite” to the Windansea Surf Club; “Most Creative” to Ooh La La dance studio; “Most Colorful” to the Forjadores nonprofit organization and “Most Community Spirit” to the Walter Munk Foundation for the Oceans.
The parade included familiar La Jolla faces from the San Diego Lifeguards, Bird Rock Twirl and San Diego City Council President Joe La Cava while also featuring regional entries from the San Diego Golden Retriever Meetup Group, San Diego Falun Dafa Association, the Mt Miguel Marching Matadors and many more.
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