Happy Thanksgiving Santa Clara! It’s always been a special holiday. A time of year where the focus is in sharing our blessings with family, friends and community. The Santa Clara Parade of Champions nonprofit is grateful for its volunteers, sponsors and our community participation—we cannot bring it back each year without you.

This year was an amazing turn out! The biggest parade yet since our return by our NPO in 2019 after a 24-year hiatus. Clearly, all were ready to celebrate our community and frontline heroes again. Festivities ran from 9am to 5pm. This year we added a few new twists—Food trucks and thanks to Volare Studios, Salsa on the Street in front of the Grandstands. A full day of fun!

Sunrise Breakfast at the Homestead Kitchen for our Sponsors and honored guests started at 8:30. By 9am the community village was busy, and Food Trucks were hopping. The Opening Ceremonies began at 10:30 with a flag raising, pledge of allegiance by Girl Scout Troop 61020, followed by the national anthem sung by well-known Bollywood performer Ishmeet Narula. As president of SCPOC, I shared a bit of history about past Mayor Larry Marsalli and community leader Ed Cunha who founded our first parade in 1945 to welcome home our WWII Vets. Our Mayor Lisa Gillmor, and our District 4, Santa Clara County Board Supervisor Susan Ellenberg spoke about the importance of community and front-line heroes—young and old and that legacy.

This year SCFD honored retired SCFD Fire Chief Bill Kelly who passed unexpectedly. He was a Santa Claran with deep roots in the community and whose career at SCFD spanned 35 years. Bill served his community through volunteerism on a variety of NPOs boards, and as President for the SC Rotary. Another hero lost was Ken Kitajima, a child survivor of WWII Japanese internment, Boy Scout leader, a Korean War Veteran, a tireless community Volunteer, a retired SJUSD Science Teacher and one of our Honored Guests in the 2021 Parade. May our community heroes Rest in Peace and condolences to the families. They will be greatly missed. Thank you for your service.

Our 2022 two Grand Marshals chosen represented our teachers. Both started their careers in our Santa Clara Unified School District going as far back as 1964! Kathleen MacDonald is Wilcox’s Vice Principal of Facilities and Student Engagement, and the name's sake of our newest most innovative concept high school that just opened this year. What a legacy—her influence has spanned generations. Our 2nd Grand Marshal started his career in 1975 as a Buchser Electronics Teacher in the SCUSD, before he went on to become a nationally acclaimed Cheerleader and inventor of the Wave—Earthquake’s Krazy George Henderson!

Another milestone year in education was the 150th anniversary for Santa Clara High School. The 6th oldest Highschool in the state and the 3rd oldest in the County. The SCHS PTSA worked with SCHS STEM students and sponsors DEVCON, 49ers Foundation, and many other donors to help build a beautiful float to commemorate over a century of education. It was a spirited celebration, that included Interim Superintendent Dr. Gary Waddell, SCUSD Board of Directors, Principal Shelby, Teachers and Coaches, student and community volunteers—even had both the Original SCHS Mascot the Panther, as well as Buster the Bruin to help work the crowds along the route.

We had 9 Marching Bands, four floats, unique artful and multicultural performance groups, NPOs, youth groups and sport champions, Front line Heroes, and honored community guests like Basketball Hall of Famer Coach Dean Giles, 4th generation community leaders Mildred McClintock and Ray Da Gama. You can watch the live feed from our Home Page—courtesy of John Dietrich and his crew. Thankful for their generous donation of time and expertise and community volunteerism.

Our Grand Finale Performance this year was sponsored by DEVCON’s Gary Filizetti—an organization with deep roots in Santa Clara. The DEVCON Float was preceded by Dance Affair and the Lady Liberty Balloon, bringing up the parade end, straight from the State Capital, celebrating their 75th Anniversary, was the Sacramento University Marching Band. Within minutes of the start of the mini concert, Sacramento State Marching band had the crowd in the Grandstand on their feet dancing to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and many more upbeat tunes. The Grandstand’s crowd, including the Marsalli Family, loved the energy, and said it was the best parade yet. High praise indeed!

If by chance you did not make it to the parade—you know what they say a picture is worth a thousand words. That said, thanks to the sponsorship of Larry Sack’s Photography, you can download parade photos for a limited time through December end at this link: Photos of Parade of Champions 2022 (larrysacks.com)

As for the final edited/produced version of the parade by Kevin Wing Productions, the city agreed to broadcast the Parade on Comcast Channel 15 or AT&T Channel 99 through to Jan 30th, 2023. It will also be available on our website indefinitely along with footage of our past parades.

The Holidays are here and there are many gatherings. We will be sponsoring the Santa Clara tree lighting in central park on December 2nd, hosting opportunity baskets at the Historic Home Tour and attending the Santa Photo Opportunity at the Harris Lass Museum that weekend. A great start to the holidays! To stay in the know, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn or subscribe to our blog, news and updates at www.scparadeofchampions.org

Who doesn’t love a Parade? Volunteerism is a BIG part of our Mission. We offer students community service hours, and work with local NPO, Businesses and Corporate Employee volunteer programs. If you are interested in year round volunteer opportunities or joining our 2023 Planning Committee, we are accepting bios now. Please apply by sending me an email with your volunteer hours, skills set, specific interests and contact info to avsmith2014@gmail.com. Our NPO is active year-round always working on fundraising, applying for grants, collaborations with other NPO partners, social media and community outreach, as well as planning and preparing for our next Parade Day set for October 7th, 2023. There is something fun for everyone.