What Happened at the Candy Cane Lane Parade?

By Ryan Pendleton

This past Monday, on November 26th, Visalia hosted the annual Candy Cane Lane Parade. It started at 7:00 pm, but the entire area of Downtown Visalia was incredibly packed before the parade even began. It was either blocked up or blocked off. Once I left the car, the whole intersection was so cluttered an apple couldn’t fall. I wandered down the street and as soon as I got to the center of Downtown, at least over 1,000 people were relaxing in lawn chairs and sitting on blankets with their children, drinking hot chocolate, eating good food and enjoying each other’s time.

There were a number of food vendors that came out for the parade. At least over 15 street vendors wandered around the streets selling food, drinks and other products to people for cheap prices to earn more and more profit. Most of the vendors sold either toys and little trinkets or sizzling hot dogs. The delicious and intriguing scent of grilling hot dogs and the lingering, sweetening smell of hot chocolate filled the cold night air.

I got with a couple of friends, hung out with them and walked down the crowded sidewalks to find a place to sit. As soon as we found a empty place, we stood there with other people and waited for the parade to start. The lighting was dim and yet bright in certain places and then the floats suddenly arrived. Nearly from all over the Central Valley, most of the schools and groups marched down that street happily and joyfully. Porterville, Dinuba, Tulare and more marched and waved at people; accompanying them were causal yet impressive parade floats. Mostly smaller children were on them, smiling and waving at people.

As the parade continued, dance crews and marching bands joined along their certain school floats. They played recognizable Christmas music with their trumpets, drums, tubas and other instruments; even some of the tuba players decorated their instruments with Christmas lights and decorations! The local Sheriff’s Department had its own float as well; they paraded down the street with their float and even some rode on horses! Something occurred though; I don’t know what happened exactly, but the horses suddenly started getting skittish and a bit wild. While the incident was nerve-racking, the riders calmed them down and continued to march. After them, several fun cartoon mascots danced and waved at the children, acting excited and happy.

While watching all this, a friendly bearded man offered my friends and I a seat on his tailgate. We accepted thankfully and as soon as we sit, he utters to us, “We’re all in this big world together!” We agreed nicely and continued to watch the parade. Color guards twirled their flags, marchings bands marched and played and little kids waved happily at the audience. Some little kids weren’t very enthusiastic at all, giving more of a blank stare and estranged half-smile.

As once as Redwood came along, playing their instruments proudly and fancily, my friends and I started chasing them for some reason. We zipped in and out and through the dense crowds discreetly and respectfully. Even though I made an early leave, I still had a good time at the parade. Overall, it was great, and the looks on the locals’ faces seemed to agree with me.