Bakersfield Life

Bakersfield's Christmas Parade

By: Jeff Nickell, Kern County Museum director

Bakersfield, and Kern County for that matter, has a long, rich tradition when it comes to parades.

 

      There have been cotton parades, 4^th of July parades, the Frontier Day parades, and of course, the ones we still have today like the Veteran’s Day parade.  But, one parade has captured the imaginations of young and old for years – the Bakersfield Christmas Parade.

 

      Those of you who go to this year’s parade, make sure to take a look around. Look at the floats, Santa Claus, the wonderful bands, and especially the shining faces of all the youngsters filled with the imagination of the holidays.

 

       I don’t think there are many things better than a smiling child. After consultation with some of my historian friends, I was not able to find out when the first Christmas Parade was held.  However, I can tell you photographs in the museum’s collection show other celebratory parades back to the late 1800s.

 

      The earliest that we know the most about our parades are those from the 1940s and 1950s. That’s because of the museum’s photo collection and the research done by Gilbert Gia, who found several articles related to Bakersfield Christmas Parades of those decades.

 

      The Bakersfield Californian on Dec. 2, 1948 indicated that “In welcoming Santa Claus to town, Bakersfield's parade makers last night set two records — they staged the biggest, most colorful Christmas parade in local history and jammed downtown streets with the greatest crowd ever to witness a parade of any kind in this city.”

 

      The article further stated, “It was a noisy, gay, happy crowd. Youngsters were everywhere, on cars and underfoot. Before the parade came - they pranced, leaped, laughed and shouted. After all, it was their parade and they made the most of it.”

 

      The story revealed the highlights: the DeMoLay Float awarded as the gold cup winner for its originality and the Bakersfield High School “High-Stepping” Majorettes and 90-person strong Driller Marching Band.

 

       DeMolay is an organization dedicated to preparing young men to lead successful, happy, and productive lives. Basing its approach on timeless principles and practical, hands-on experience, DeMolay opens doors for young men aged 12 to 21 by developing the civic awareness, personal responsibility and leadership skills so vitally needed in society today.

 

       The Dec. 2, 1949 Bakersfield Californian indicated that year’s parade was the “biggest and best Santa Claus parade ever held – and that’s no exaggeration.”

 

       Thousands of people lined the streets to get a glimpse of floats such as the Arvin Businessman’s Club’s Santa’s Toyland, which featured a Ferris wheel and the East Bakersfield Progressive Club’s float showing a winter scene with youngsters sledding through the pines. But, the paper wrote that the “most magnificent float of them all, however, was the one bearing Santa Claus."

 

        The float depicted Santa flying down a hillside in his red sleigh drawn by eight snow white reindeer, while a pair of little girls swung from candy canes on either side. The float did not win a prize because it was put together by the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce – the sponsor of the parade.

 

        Jumping to the parade of 1951, The Californian noted, “It didn't take much to learn which float in the Bakersfield Christmas parade vas the most popular with the small fry last night. The gleeful shouts and cries when the Santa Claus float went by indicated who was the big hero to the younger set. Santa and his gaily decorated float lead off the longest and best parade in the city's history.”

 

       (The question I have was every parade the biggest and best?)

       The 1952 Bakersfield Christmas Parade was known for more than just fancy floats, great bands, carolers, and such. This was the year Police Chief Horace Grayson announced that parking along the parade route would be banned. It was indicated it would reduce hazards and also give parade-goers a better look at the parade. The 1954 parade had an entry from the Kern County Shrine Club plugging their upcoming Potato Bowl game between Compton and Boise Junior colleges. The latter is now Boise State … imagine that!

 

       After the heyday of the '40s and '50s, the parade appeared to become a thing of the past.  According to the Bakersfield Christmas Parade Web site, the parade was in hiatus from 1971 through 1983 (that explains why I never marched in it).

 

       For many years, the parade started at 22^nd and Chester south to Brundage Avenue. When the parade was brought back in 1983, it was shortened to Truxtun Avenue.

 

        Mayor Mary K. Shell, with her Beautiful Bakersfield Committee, along with the Downtown Business Association, and Bakersfield Jay Cee’s brought the parade back. Ilo Scatina was chairman and also served as coordinator of the Veteran’s Day Parade.  Others who were active in bringing the parade back were Everett Goodwin, a.k.a. (Santa Claus), Cathy Butler with the DBA and J.P. Auer (Crippled Children/Police Reserves).

 

        But it would not be the parade it is today without the active involvement of Harvey L. Hall, Hall Ambulance and now Mayor of Bakersfield! Hall was involved from the beginning (not from the very beginning) entering the best floats in the parade for years.  Then Hall became chairman and assembled an awesome committee consisting of his staff and community leaders that each had their own special responsibilities, therefore improved the quality and safety of the parade.

 

       New this year are a few newly formed programs this year, including "Christmas Square" Marketplaces, Children's Activity Centers and Christmas Choir Corners. Also part of this year's festivities will be the CSUB Carolers. Under the direction of CSUB music professor Dr. Robert Provencio, the students will provice seasonal music commercial segways during the live broadcast of the parade.

 

       So come one, come all and enjoy a true Bakersfield tradition on Thursday, Dec. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. starting at 22nd and L streets.