Here Come the Parades

We went to two parades this past weekend. Probably one to many.

The first parade of the weekend was Saturday's Los Gatos Holiday Parade. It started at 11 a.m., which is a little late. Everyone in town brings their lawn chairs, and starts setting them up on the sidewalk starting as early as 6:30 a.m. This makes sense when you realize how long the parade is ... over two hours.

We didn't realize this, so when we got to the parade at 9:30 a.m. all of the real estate was taken.  But honestly our boys are small, so we can squeeze them to the front of any crowd.

The highlights were the Stanford marching band, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, and of course Santa.  Los Gatos is also a charming town, and the backdrop for the parade was lovely. However, it seemed that every middle school and high school band in Santa Clara County marched in the parade, and the parade could have done with some editing.

The boys enjoyed themselves for the most part. We did have to exit early (two hours is awfully long for a parade).

Then we woke-up Sunday morning, and had our typical conversation. Where do we want to go for breakfast? Do we want to make pancakes at home or venture out? Then an ad came on for the 8:30 a.m. broadcast of the San Jose Holiday Parade with Kristi Yamaguchi. Then the conversation shifted to, how come we didn't know that San Jose had a parade?

The San Jose Parade looked interesting too. It had the giant balloons, ala Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It looked like a legitimate parade that shouldn't be missed. Well, we had this conversation at 7:51 a.m., and the parade started at 8:30 a.m.

At 8:35 a.m. we were parking on Autumn Street, and walking from the staging area to the parade route.  The San Jose Parade is much more grand then the Los Gatos Parade, but also had commercial breaks. You heard it, commercial breaks.

When we arrived all of the bands, dance squads, cars, and large floats were staged and waiting their turn. We walked past them as if they were holding the parade for us. When we passed Stomper, the A's mascot. He got out of the car and came over to greet the boys. Xander would have nothing to do with him, but Caleb was beside himself with joy.

The fact the parade just stopped, for two to four minute intervals meant that our boys got to interact with the people in the parade. I have pictures of Caleb with the San Jose shark, a recycling mascot, Snoopy, you name it, Caleb managed to high five everyone.

The commercial breaks were annoying, and made it feel like the parade really wasn't for the bystanders. We were props. Couldn't the local station have set-up two camera crews, and kept the parade going? Jonathan tells me that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the same ... but honestly this wasn't a nationally televised parade. 

The highlights of the San Jose Holiday Parade were Star Wars complete with Darth Vader balloon, the Chinese New Year troops, the Peanuts float, all of the local mascots and the Billy Jones Wild Cat Railroad.

Two parades in one weekend was probably too much. We enjoyed both parades, but next year we'll plan a little better.