Boca’s Street Parade Created Memories
By Marci Shatzman
What was it like to judge Boca Raton’s 51st annual Holiday Street Parade? Awesome.
Our parents took all the cousins to two parades a year in Philly, part of our Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day Mummer’s Parade rituals. That led to a love of parades that has followed me for the rest of my life. So this meant coming full circle.
Thousands of spectators lined the barricades along Federal Highway to watch this year’s spectacle. If you weren’t in that crowd, here’s a quick synopsis:
Marching bands playing. Cheerleaders cheering. Groups like Girl Scouts walking in holiday costumes. Decorated floats and vehicles. Stilt walkers. Elected officials like Mayor Scott Singer and family in open cars. Blaring sirens and holiday music. The traditional grand finale…Santa waving on a Boca Raton Benevolent firefighter hook and ladder truck.
Here’s photos, most taken by Koda Creative and some by me.
I sat in a grandstand with my fellow judge Douglas Heizer, Rotary International South Florida District 6930 Governor and owner and publisher of the Boca Raton Tribune. WPBF ABC-TV meteorologist Glenn Glazer and Joanna Marie Kaye, Festival of the Arts BOCA executive director, sat on a higher perch to double as parade commentators.
The city of Boca Raton also does a holiday boat parade 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. this Saturday Dec. 16 along the Intracoastal. There’s plenty of places to watch. I go every year. https://myboca.us/1464/Holiday-Boat-Parade
Enjoy the holidays.
