Even though we live in Goleta, the Goleta Old Town Holiday Parade is the one holiday parade we had never attended! Until now! We rode our bicycles over to Old Town Goleta and waited for the parade to begin.
Here are my many photos. Here are my videos.
Rhythmic Gymnastics was new for me, but it seems to have roots back to the 1700s. It became an Olympic sport in 1984. Here was our local version!
Many schools participated in the parade. Many with marching bands. The La Patera Elementary School Tigers had dancing gingerbread men and a skater!
There were quite a few cars on display in this parade. These were well-restored classic cars from the early 20th century. Including a fire engine from Glen Annie Ranch.
The Pacifica High School Tritons came all the way from Oxnard with synchronized flag waving and a marching band.
Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP Cats) is a shelter for cats on Overpass Road in Goleta. Their unit in the parade was one of the most fun to watch! Inflatable animals have really become a thing now. As I wrote before, Trump illegally sent troops to Portland claiming it was a war zone. Portland fought vicious brutality with “silly” and gained international attention. It is fun to see the proliferation of silly everywhere now!
Cruz Dance and Entertainment offered perhaps the youngest performers in the parade, dancing in their beautiful little costumes.
Goleta Valley Junior High provided a marching band and pom pom girls.
Sun Coast Rentals provided a huge platform for holiday revelers and some interesting heavy equipment in action. Don’t miss the heavy equipment operator with the boy in his lap!
The Milpas Street Holiday Parade was canceled this year. Out of concern for ICE terrorizing the community. But it seems that some of their low riders made it up here to the Goleta parade! These low riders bounced their way along the route.
And then there were these low riders, including some well restored old time classic cars.
La Cumbre Junior High provided another marching band. Followed by some young Fiesta dancers!
These Fiesta dancers were also on hand!
Dos Pueblos High School Chargers had a huge marching band with synchronized flag wavers and cheer leaders. With a dancing horse in front and an art car at the end.
And the parade officially ended after about 80 minutes when Santa Claus prompted the crowd to cheer.
I will also note there were quite a few elected officials discreetly mixed in with the rest of the parade participants. Here are a few. Supervisors Joan Hartmann and Laura Capps being pedaled in trishaw pedicabs.
School Board member Ethan Bertrand and unknown companion who may be another elected official.
Please check out the rest of my photos and videos that did not fit here!
A really lovely recap, thank you Robert! This and the boat parade are the only 2 holiday parades we have now when we used to have at least 4.
Wow. All the stuff I missed, though I was there too! It was the best parade. These pictures showed what I missed and the cars, which I thoroughly enjoyed seeing again! This took a lot of work and I thank you!
@SBsurferlife, @ruralwannabe Thank you for the kind words. Glad I was able to show what you saw and what you missed. It was a fun event!
The only things I didn’t like:
1) The scary fencing on the mountain side of Hollister. These days it is very scary to feel fenced in with no way to escape.
2) The monitors who got in the way of getting clear photos and videos
3) Ugly yellow tape blocking everyone’s view
Hope this can be fixed next year! Maybe they could have some reviewing stands with a modest fee for a seat?