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Phil and Kylie Montgomery and Janet Smith were among the people decked out in costumes awaiting word on the status of the Pleasanton holiday parade amid rain last Saturday afternoon. The procession was ultimately canceled, but the tree lighting went on that evening. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) -
Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown (back right) flips the switch at the tree lighting ceremony on Dec. 3. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) -
Pleasanton’s Young American Patriots Fife & Drum Corps playing in the afternoon. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) -
(Photo by Chuck Deckert)
Revelers gazed toward the sky to take in the colorful display as the holiday tree in downtown Pleasanton was illuminated during a festive ceremony on Saturday — although the rain clouds did put a damper on the evening, leading city officials to cancel the annual parade.
Dozens of residents stuck out the day’s consistent rain to attend the tree lighting, complete with live music and an appearance from Santa Claus, which was bumped up almost two hours earlier after the call was made late in the afternoon to forgo the popular procession amid the inclement weather.
“I have loved the parade long before I was mayor. I was so pleased that friends and family from throughout Pleasanton came to the Hometown Holiday Parade with their umbrellas to listen to the music and enjoy the celebration of the lighting of the beautiful tree in front of the Museum on Main,” Mayor Karla Brown told the Weekly soon after flipping the switch to light the tree.
As organizers and participants were preparing for the annual holiday parade with fingers crossed in light of the forecast, city officials were keeping an equally close eye on the rainfall Saturday morning and afternoon.
The procession typically brings thousands of spectators to Main Street and scores of entrants from businesses and community groups in decorated floats, cars or on foot.
The parade still looked promising by 3 p.m., albeit scaled back to just one announcers’ stage instead of three, but the rain remained steady and the decision was reached just after 3:30 p.m. to cancel the parade for safety reasons but go forward with the tree lighting earlier at 5 p.m.
It marked the third time in the past four years that Pleasanton’s holiday parade was called off, following another inclement weather cancellation in 2019 and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in 2020.
Why wasn’t the parade simply rescheduled to another Saturday in December. Several opportunities to have the parade before Dec 25 exist.
Hi Gene. The city even though the parade was cancelled still incurred the full cost of stage contract, entertainers, dozens of event engaged city staff salaries, in addition to many other costs that couldn’t be recouped. Biggest issue though would be trying to reschedule 80+ parade entries to a date later into December. Would likely just get a fraction of that number that would be available next weekend on short notice, or following weekend a week before Christmas.
Suggestions for contracts for scheduling the next Christmas Parade: In the contract have the first Saturday in December as the original date and a rain out for the second Saturday in December with the agreement that if the parade is rained out on the first Saturday, vendors, performers, etc. will agree to participate the following Saturday.
Indy Girl seems to have a reasonable suggestion. Event organizers have a year to mull it over, tweak it, and make it work. Saturday’s Spirit Stroll went on, despite periods of downpour. Folks seemed to enjoy it despite the weather.