Parades, light shows going virtual or drive-through
PARADES and light shows have long been a part of the holiday season. Families huddle in the cold along sidewalks and tree lightings, but not this year. Perhaps the country’s most famous parade, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, adapted this year with socially distanced floats and virtual performances, and many other parades and events are finding creative ways to do the same.
Whether you want to drive through, experience at a distance or watch from your couch, here is how you can do these events this year. Here are a few highlights from cities that are hosting drivethrough or adapted parades and light shows. These are a few highlights.
Dancing elves, roller-skating snowflakes, baton-twirling candy canes and a zip-lining Grinch are all part of the lineup at the Peppermint Parkway, a drive-through event outside Austin at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a Formula One racetrack.
The route is based around the animated story of event mascots, Pepper and Mint, delivering their letter to Santa at the North Pole. “We wanted to hit all of your senses,” said Courtney Young, executive producer of special projects at COTA, about the live actors and gigantic light displays.
The inaugural event begins Nov 27, and tickets can be upgraded to include a lap around the racetrack.
Also in Austin is the 56-yearold Trail of Lights, which had to be adapted into a drive-through event this year, that draws half a million people annually.
James Russell, executive director of the nonprofit operating the event, said members started brainstorming in April how to revert the walking event to a drivethrough model, which was how the event operated during his childhood. Over the summer, the organization met with numerous city and health officials to implement a safe, feasible plan.
The Austin Trail of Lights is raising money online for the Central Texas Food Bank this year, which has had an increase in demand during the pandemic. Tickets start at $25.
In DC, the Smithsonian’s
National Zoo has adapted their annual ZooLights event, where guests could see the zoo grounds lighted up with holiday lights.
After discussions with the event sponsor, Pepco, a plan was devised to make the event mobile by using a 24-foot truck featuring light displays, a snow machine and holiday music.
Panda Claws, not to be confused with Santa Claus, has become an event favorite and will be decked out in holiday apparel on the ZooLights Express truck as it visits one of the city’s eight wards every Friday and Saturday night from Nov 27 to Dec 19.
In Los Angeles, the pandemic accelerated plans for an event based on “The Elf on the Shelf,” a famous children’s book (and the bane of so many parents’ existence during the holidays).
“The Elf on the Shelf’s Magical Holiday Journey,” a drivethrough experience follows a new story written for the event by the one of the book’s original authors, Chanda Bell.
“There’s this pretty extensive theatrical narrative that really anchors this experience,” said Marty LaSalle, co-head of Constellation Immersive, the studio behind the event.
“It’s delivered through an app that you download in advance of arrival, and that you plug into your car.”
The story follows the journey of the elves as they repair Santa’s sleigh after an emergency landing at the Pomona Fairplex in Los Angeles County, with a cast of masked live actors and circus performers.
The event runs through Jan 3, and narration is available in both English and Spanish.
In lieu of canceling parades, cities are holding virtual events to allow people to safely tune in from the comfort of their couch. Atlanta’s WSB-TV will air highlights from the last 40 years of the city’s Children’s Christmas Parade, the biggest holiday parade in the Southeast, on Dec 6. Nashville is following suit by airing past parade highlights along with live performances on local TV station WKRN on Dec 5 at 9am.
While Raleigh, North Carolina, broadcast on Nov 21 its 76th annual Christmas parade with live musical performances by Train and Meghan Trainor, a recording will be aired on Christmas. — The Washington Post