The holiday season is underway, and a family favorite is returning to Tucson: The Downtown Parade of Lights, presented by Rio Nuevo District.
The 29th iteration of Downtown Parade of Lights and Festival is Saturday, Dec. 16, with the festival starting at Armory Park at 4 p.m. with food, music and activities. Officials expect 10,000 attendees this year, with 1,200 participants in 70 parade floats. It kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at 17th Street and Stone Avenue, ending at Armory Park.
“The entries have evolved,” said Brandi Haga-Blackman, parade executive director. “We have a lot of businesses. A lot of families get excited and want to join. We have a lot of kids who get dressed up and come out and ride. We’ll have grandpa and grandma’s truck with lights on it. They do a really good job.”
She said local organizations will be present like the Tucson Roadrunners and Tucson Pops. Food trucks and arts and crafts vendors will sell goodies.
“We’ll have photos with Santa Claus, which is cool, for free,” Haga-Blackman said. “It’s a 360 photo booth.”
This year’s grand marshal is Dr. Dante Lauretta, a regents professor of planetary science and cosmochemistry at the UA’s lunar and planetary laboratory.
He is an expert in near-Earth asteroids and is the leader for NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Asteroid Sample Return mission. The spacecraft launched in September 2016 and returned the sample September 2023.
He is also the director of the new Arizona Astrobiology Center and an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution.
The parade also boasts two emcees, one in Spanish on Stone Avenue and an English language speaker on Sixth Avenue at Armory Park.
“Those are the coolest things we’re doing,” she said.
More info can be found at www.downtownparadeoflights.com
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 7, 2023.
