The holiday season is underway, and a family favorite is returning to Tucson: The Downtown Parade of Lights.
“We are expecting around 1,200 people to participate in the parade and are gearing up thousands more to attend, because this community has embraced this event year after year,” said Brandi Haga, the parade’s executive coordinator.
The 29th iteration of Downtown Parade of Lights and Festival is Saturday, Dec. 16, with the festival starting at Armory at 4 p.m. with food, music and activities.
The 75-float parade kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at 17th Street and Stone Avenue, ending at Armory Park.
“We will also have something special for kids where they can get pictures with Santa Claus,” Haga said.
The parade will also include appearances from El Tour de Tucson, the Tucson Sugar Skulls and the Tucson Roadrunners.
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 in September 2023.
He is also the director of the new Arizona Astrobiology Center and an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution.
