Out N’ About: Everybody Loves a Parade!

When Harry Richman recorded the song “I Love a Parade” in 1932, he was pretty spot on with the lyrics, which spoke to the excitement from the beat of the drums to the cheering crowd. Who doesn’t love a parade? There’s no denying this time of year is parade season, starting with Thanksgiving and going right on through Christmas. Here are a few fun parades you may want to line up for!

The 69th Annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade in Houston, Texas will feature dancers, floats, plenty of balloons, live music, and celebrities including Houston Astros player Jose Altuve and the Houston Rockets’ James Harden. The parade is scheduled for Thursday, November 22 and will begin at 9 a.m. The parade route runs a loop and begins at Lamar and Smith trip. For more information visit www.houstontx.gov/thanksgivingparade. Colorado River RV Campground is located just an hour outside of Houston, TX.

While it may be the most well-known Thanksgiving Day Parade, and one of the most popular, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which began in 1924, is not the oldest (that honor goes to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade which began in 1920). Of course, the New York parade is the most iconic, often featured in movies (Miracle on 34th Street) and television (Seinfeld and Friends, are two examples) but Macy’s has several parade locations throughout the United States, and luckily, several are near Thousand Trails locations:

28th Annual Macy’s Holiday Parade – Seattle, Washington: Beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, November 23, this parade will run through the streets of downtown Seattle (route begins at the corner of 7th Avenue and Pine Street) and ends with Santa officially opening Santaland at Macy’s. Check it out if you’re staying at Thunderbird RV Campground, 

Universal’s Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s – Orlando, Florida is a specular parade featuring your favorite movie characters in big balloon form, including Shrek, the Minions and of course, Santa Claus. Since 2002, Macy’s and Universal have teamed up to bring floats and balloons from the New York parade down to Florida for the holidays. There are various showtimes for this holiday favorite, so visit www.universalorlando.com for details. The Orlando RV Campground is located in the heart of Orlando, FL and is the perfect home base for visiting Universal Studios!

On November 23, the holiday season will kick off in a spectacular way with the Ford Holiday River Parade and Lighting Festival in San Antonio, Texas. The 39th annual parade gets underway with the lighting of the River Walk, where more than 100,000 lights will turn on to illuminate the festive floats, 25 in all, that parade down the river. For more information, visit www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com. The Medina Lake RV Campground is located just an hour drive to San Antonio, TX.

The Portland Christmas Ship Parade runs for several nights during the holiday season on both the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers. The 64th Christmas Ship Parade event starts November 30 and runs through December 20. More than 50 privately owned boats will be brightly decorated for the holidays and parade down the river while viewer lines the banks of the river to see this unique holiday parade. For a schedule and more information, visit www.christmasships.org. Pacific City RV Campground is just a couple hours drive to Portland, OR.

Ring in the New Year parade-style and don’t miss the Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade, scheduled for December 31 at 10 a.m. in downtown San Diego. This parade has it all from marching bands to floats to drills team and balloon characters. For details visit www.holidaybowl.com. Pio Pico RV Campground is just 30 minutes from downtown San Diego; Oakzanita Springs RV Campground is only 50 minutes from downtown San Diego.

Don’t miss out on your favorite parades! Head to ThousandTrails.com to make your reservations today.