Belmont Shore Christmas Parade to celebrate 40th anniversary on Saturday
John Morris — the parade's founder and co-creator of Legends and Big Bang on the Bay — will serve as this year’s Grand Marshal.
When Heather Kern was a Bruinette at Wilson High School, she marched in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade. Years later, after her son was born, he marched in the parade with his preschool. A decade or so later, when he was a drummer with the Wilson High School Marching Band, he marched in the parade again.
For these and other reasons, Kern says the parade holds "a special place" in her heart. Today, Kern is the executive director of the Belmont Shore Business Association, so the parade is pretty much her life right now.
"[I]t’s incredibly exciting to work on organizing the very parade I grew up loving — it was honestly the best part of taking this job," she said in a statement. "Watching the joy it brings to everyone makes it all worthwhile."
First run in 1982, when founder John Morris saw the parade as a way to get people to visit Belmont Shore, the event has grown to become Southern California's second largest holiday parade, according to Kern. Being the parade's 40th anniversary, Kern said this year's event, which is expected to draw about 30,000 spectators, will include "generational traditions."
Morris will serve as this year's parade Grand Marshal, and this year he'll march alongside Loree Scarborough, one of the first people to participate in the Christmas parade, and they'll even revive their "famous" kazoo band from the 1982 parade, according to Kern.
As they have throughout the years, the Wilson High School Marching Band will once again close the parade just ahead of Santa Claus, Kern said.
This year's parade includes two special guest announcers: game show host Bob Goen (who is also John Morris's brother in law) and his wife, actress Marianne Curan, according to Kern.
The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers — a Portland-based drum corps founded by Long Beach resident and Wilson High alum Greg Odell — will also march in the parade. Past crowd favorites like the Lit Riderz and the Corgi Beach Day crew will be in the parade, along with a variety of entries from community fixtures like the Port of Long Beach, Long Beach Airport and the Aquarium of the Pacific, Kern said.
The parade, which is free, takes place on Saturday, Dec. 7. Step-off happens at 6 p.m. and the parade will run until 9 p.m.
There are about 100 entries in this year's parade, including more than a dozen marching bands, according to the Belmont Shore Business Association.
The parade route runs along Second Street and begins heading east from Livingston Avenue to Bayshore Avenue. The parade will follow what Kern calls a “double back” route along Second Street that allows spectators to view all the entries and participants from multiple vantage points.
Second Street will close to traffic at 5 p.m., but spectators are encouraged to set up their chairs or blankets anytime after 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to Kern.
Parking in the beach lots will be free Saturday night. Those who wish to skip the crowds can watch the parade livestream here.
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