PARADE COMES `HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY MAGIC'
The Woodland Chamber of Commerce's annual Holiday Parade made its long-awaited return Saturday evening welcoming thousands of visitors to enjoy an evening of festivities along Main Street.
The parade was meant to return last year but was canceled due to weather conditions. It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year's parade featured a day and night section with earlier entries riding down Main Street starting at 4 p.m. and later entries lit with festive holiday lights once it got dark. Dozens of local organizations, businesses, groups and individuals participated in the parade under the theme “Home for the Holiday Magic.”
Woodland Public Library staff and Teen Advisory Board members had been preparing for the parade for the last three months and featured cart dancers, book bikes, a “Gingerbary” and their TikTok famous inflatables.
Teen Librarian Sara Day said
this was the first parade she's been able to participate in and is excited to tweak some things for next year.
“I'm very proud of what the Teen Advisory Board and the Woodland Public Library staff have done today,” Day emphasized.
She explained that teen board members pushed for participating this year because they were planning on participating in last year's canceled parade.
“I wanted to show off the Teen Advisory Board and what an amazing group of teens that we have who support the community,” Day said. “But also, especially after the pandemic, we want to show that we're the library, we're still here and we're here for our community.”
Board President Sarah Mandujano helped organize the library's performance and credited her team for working hard to pull it off.
“It was pretty exciting,” the 15-year-old remarked. “Last year it got canceled, unfortunately, but this was the first time I could be in the parade. It's definitely a lot
of teamwork, talking to people and knowing how they feel.”
“We had a great time, I think everybody enjoyed it and it was really fun.”
The return of the parade is also something community members like Cecilia Gallardo, who brought her 8-year-old son to the event, have been excited about after waiting for so long.
“He was four the last time
he did it,” Gallardo explained. “It's nice, especially with all the Christmas lights and everybody just coming together as a community and having one special night together. He loves the holidays so it's nice to just get out of the house and do something fun.”
Woodland's Alyssa Nakken, the first full-time female MLB
coach who coaches the San Francisco Giants, led the parade as its Grand Marshal.
Nakken briefly signed autographs
at Heritage Plaza immediately following her ride in the parade.
The city of Woodland, Waste Management of Woodland and Brooks Painting Inc. sponsored this year's parade, according to the chamber.