Over 120 Entries in the 2020 SC Virtual Parade of Champions will be emceed by Taylor Amarante on Saturday, October 10th @11 am

Last year the 52 year old Santa Clara Parade of Champions (SPOC) was brought back by a group of determined Santa Clara locals after a 24 year hiatus to a crowd of over 10K. The newly formed nonprofit foundation was incorporated as a 501c3 in 2018, and with all the online features to do business in the 21st century. SCPOC has a website, a FB page and group, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube account--so many ways to connect with us. This is basically a whole new Parade of Champions ready for all things virtual in Silicon Valley.

What a difference a year makes! Enter COVID-19 and the world has been changed at least for now. If you weren't an online organization the struggle for survival in 2020 is real. It has forced business, events, sports and community groups to get creative and consider new online and virtual approaches to doing business and gathering safely while in quarantine. Nonprofits that could afford to skip 2020, elected to postpone their annual events to 2021.

Its was not an option for SCPOC to sit out 2020 mostly because too many amazing things happened this year that absolutely needed to be recognized and remembered--mainly our community and front line heroes who chose to risk their lives to save ours. It would be a missed opportunity not to commemorate this year's heroes on video.

Well, there is a first time for everything--so here we are 6 months later doing a livestream in simulcast across several media platforms and planning to broadcast on Channel 15 and 99. Keep in mind this is all new to us. Surprisingly we adapted quickly. Certainly if we can organize and fundraise a parade in 9 months we thought a video project with the right Media Production Company was doable in 3 months.

In this case, hindsight will indeed be 2020. Proud to say that the content of our Virtual Parade was created and submitted into our care (and a expert media production company) by our community for the community. I think we will all appreciate looking back on this year, and realize that the pandemic taught the community a lot about themselves, and who our heroes really are.

Going Virtual has been a one of a kind experience for SCPOC We felt it was the best approach to commemorating all the things that went right this year.

For those that submitted Videos to the Virtual Parade of Champions or participated in the America's Community and Front line Heroes Porch Decorating Contest--thank you! Never can have too many selfies so we invite you to grab popcorn and your favorite device and enjoy the show---just please send us one more selfie of your organization or friends and neighbors enjoying the watch party.

Launch Party invitation:

Where: Go to scparadeofchampions.org or any of our social media platforms from FB, Instagram, Twitter.

After 10/10 you can watch: Channel 15 or 99 please check your cable provider for times. Or anytime 24/7 on our YouTube Channel.

Special Thanks to the City of Santa Clara for the Community Grant to cover our Media Production Services!

Ana Vargas-Smith
SCPOC President
avsmith2014@gmail.com