I Love a Parade
As Christmas is almost upon us, it’s once again time for Orlando’s annual Christmas Parade! Load up the family and grab a curbside seat this Saturday – the parade starts at 11:30am. This year’s parade theme is “Santa Salutes the Stars”, featuring country music stars, retro tribute artists, a gang of North Pole pirates, sports team mascots, and of course, St. Nick himself. You can get all of the information (including a parade map) from their website: Orlandochristmasparade.com.
A couple of notes if you’d like to attend the festivities:
– The staging area is on the north side of Lake Eola, and the parade runs south on Rosalind, west on central, then north on Orange Ave.
– The TV viewing stand is on Orange, right across from the courthouse. This is usually the best area to see the bands perform, but is also usually the most crowded.
– Orange Avenue will close at 7am, and Robinson St (the main staging area) will close at 8am, so come early! I recommend heading into downtown from the south, and using parking garages south of Central (either the Church Street or Pine Street garages) in order to avoid the street closures.
– Set those DVRs! The parade will be broadcast locally on WRDQ, TV 27 (Brighthouse channels 10 and 1027) on Saturday, December 22nd at 8:00pm, and again nationally on WGN (Brighthouse channel 20), on Sunday, December 23rd at 9:00pm.
