Christmas Parade to bring movie magic downtown
All the color and excitement of a traditional holiday parade will wind its way through the streets of downtown Bakersfield on Thursday.
The Bakersfield Christmas Parade is back to an in-person event this year, but with that decision came some problems.
“I wouldn’t say problems, but certainly there were challenges,” said Christmas Parade Committee President Greg Cronk.
“The biggest challenge was health and safety because of COVID. We were in constant contact with the county health department as they had the final say on mega outdoor events like the parade. So, following state guidelines, we had the opportunity to have an in-person parade this year.”
Cronk said spectators will make their own choices on masks and social distancing.
“We are not requiring anyone to wear a mask. We do know there will be many family groups that night and if they wish to bring their personal sanitizers along and use those occasionally, more power to them. We’ll have nothing that’s above and beyond what the health department is requiring.”
Elementary and junior high school marching bands will be missing this year.
Amy McGuire is recently retired from the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District as their visual and performing arts administrator and she coordinates the band entries. She said those in elementary school are just learning their instruments.
“They lost a year of face-to-face instruction,” she said. “Now all fifth-graders and all sixth-graders are first-year band students and that means our seventh-graders are not quite as mature as they normally would be so everybody is rebuilding their junior high band programs.”
Transportation for the bands is also problematic, according to McGuire.
“Because of social distancing you have to space (the students) out even on the bus. When you say bus capacity is 80, then two to a seat means only 50 on a bus. Then if you’re social distancing, two to a seat is not even going to work, so now how many buses does it take to move 300 kids?”
This year’s parade will feature five high school bands and the Bakersfield College Drumline, which traditionally precedes Santa Claus down the parade route.
For the first time in the parade’s history, the same grand marshal — the historic Fox Theater and its foundation — will be honored two years in a row. The grand marshal vehicle will be occupied by three members of the Fox Foundation: NaTesha “T” Johnson, Gilbert LaRoque and Melanie Farmer.
“They were able to keep the theater going during some difficult times,” said Cathy Butler, director of public relations for the
Downtown Business Association and member of the foundation board.
Butler said the back-to-back selection, including the parade theme, allowed the Fox to celebrate a special milestone.
“On Christmas 2020, the Fox Theater itself turned 90 and the parade committee thought it would be perfect timing to have the parade theme as ‘Christmas Movies,’” said Butler.
This year the Fox will be celebrating 90 plus one, so the parade theme is “Christmas Movies, the Sequel.”
In addition to the grand marshal vehicle, the Fox Theater will also have a float with a real pipe organ on it.
“It’ll be playing the soundtrack for ‘Just Imagine,’ a silent movie from 1930,” Butler said. “Watching the movie will be an ‘audience’ and surrounding the float will be walkers representing snack bar purchases. It’s all really cute and fun.”
The Bakersfield Christmas Parade is Thursday starting at 6 p.m. and will follow the set route for all downtown parades. The parade map and lineup can be viewed on the website bcparade.com.
The parade will be broadcast live on 23ABC and streaming on a variety of platforms without interruption, said Veronica Placencia, the station’s assistant news director.
“We’ll be on Facebook, turnto23. com, Roku and Amazon Fire, also on Android TV, Apple TV and YouTube TV,” she said. “We wanted to make sure the parade could be watched live or recorded to enjoy over and over.”
A re-broadcast will air New Year’s Day on 23ABC.