Pasadena Thanksgiving Parade This Weekend

By Katy Myers

This Sunday, November 7th, The Pasadena Business Association will host the Annual Pasadena Thanksgiving Parade!

My family has been a part of this parade since the parade began. My dad creates floats for the parade each year featuring his toy pedal car collection-and from the time I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to have children of my own to participate in this annual celebration of local businesses, community organizations, school organizations and families.

Each year in the weeks leading up to the parade, my dad can be found working on the floats. They are not representations of his business-but of his passion for toys. On the morning of the parade, there is lots of shuttling: to and from the business with the floats, to and from the floats with the kids, to and from the end of the parade with the floats and the kids-and sometimes it’s pure chaos. But there is no better feeling than seeing the children along the parade route. We see parents and grandparents-looking at the toys that they played with as a child and reminiscing.

The parade, you see, is more than just a procession through the ‘Dena’. It’s a kick-off to the Holiday Season. The sign that the magic of the Holidays is just around the corner. Winter will be here and so will snowmen, reindeer, and elves. The grandchildren in our family all vie for the 'best' spots on the floats. My dad says his favorite part of the parade each year is ‘seeing everyone’s eyes light up along the parade route and how much the grandchildren look forward to it every year’.

The parade brings something else too: a reminder that this is the season for giving. The theme of the parade is Caring & Sharing Community Harvest and it collects non-perishable food for food pantries and shelters within our own communities. In this 24th season of the Pasadena Thanksgiving Parade, the Parade has grown to collect food to supply 6 local Pasadena food pantries for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays!

You can find details of the parade route and times here. If you would like to donate non-perishable food items for the needy families in our community, you can either bring them to the parade or drop off in local businesses that have donation bins.

You can purchase a bag of groceries for donation at Green Valley Marketplace.

I hope to see you all out on the parade route! We'll be on one of the Cityline floats-yell hello if you see us!