DOWNEY - When the 57th annual Holiday Lane Parade gets underway on Downey Avenue this Sunday, it will include many longtime favorites.

Scheduled to participate are the Downey and Warren High School bands, Downey Boy and Girl Scouts, and the Downey Elks Lodge, all of whom have been in the parade for all 57 years.

Also returning to the parade are the Compton Sounders, Divine Talents, Downey police and fire departments, and the Wells Fargo Stagecoach.

New to the parade will be Revolution L.A. Drums and Flags, Broken Horn Ropers, Gypsy Horses, Downey City Library, and the Coachella Valley High School band.

The parade will also feature floats from Downey Regional Medical Center (the parade’s major sponsor this year), Downey Elks Lodge #2020, and Divine Talent Kids Music.

The Downey Rose Float Association will also give visitors a sneak peak of their float.

Various high school bands will also take part, including groups from Bell, Sierra Vista, Workman, Valley and Norwalk high schools. Madrid Middle School is also dispatching a band.

The parade is capped by a visit from Santa Claus.

“Residents and out-of-towners alike will enjoy the great mix of tradition, the new, the different, and our old favorites,” said Sue Nordin, executive director of the Downey Chamber of Commerce, which produces the parade. The parade is organized by a committee headed by Downey resident Maria Larkin.

The parade begins Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on Downey Avenue at Lexington Street. It will proceed south to 3rd Street and head east before disbanding on Civic Center Drive.

Business owner and community leader Bill Kirkwood is the parade’s grand marshal, while major league baseball player Evan Longoria is the celebrity marshal.

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Published: December 05, 2008 - Volume 7 - Issue 33