Asheville Holiday Parade & JingleFest
Presented by Bojangles
Where: Downtown Asheville
When: Saturday, Nov 23, 2013 11:00 am - Nov 23, 2013 4:00 pm
The week before Thanksgiving is when the holiday season in Asheville officially kicks off! Are you ready for some Holiday fun??
On Saturday, November 23 at 11am, the 67th Annual Asheville Holiday Parade, presented by Bojangles, takes over downtown to entertain kids, parents and everyone in between for just about one and a half hours. The theme for this year is “A Star is Born.” The Parade Grand Marshals are some of Asheville’s most talented stars! To include a few: Ann Dunn and several Nutcracker dancers from The Asheville Ballet, star baritone Dominic Aquilino and soprano Kelli Mullinix of Asheville Lyric Opera, Josh and Sue from 98.1 The River, Tammy and Dex from Mix 96.5 and the McLellan family from “The Best Christmas Pageant” at Asheville Community Theater. This year the Grand Marshal float is sponsored by Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community.
A big surprise will be the giant balloons that will soar high above the parade to add to the day’s already outstanding excitement (Just thinking about the balloons makes me think of watching the Macy's parade on TV!), along with eight marching bands, a variety of wonderful dance and cheer groups, a skip rope team along with llamas, horses, unicycles and much more to help entertain the bustling crowd. Of course, noone can forget about the Main Event... Santa Claus!!
Sponsored by The Grove Arcade
Click for a full parade lineup
Two of the helium balloons that are expected to be in the parade, the “Happy Stars,” will be handled by volunteers from Toys for Tots with active Marines in dress uniform marching alongside! They'll remind everyone to bring donations of unwrapped toys to the Toys for Tots donation area at JingleFest. Parade organizers are hoping that many people will be bringing donations and that this effort can become an annual tradition.
The Parade and JingleFest are a toy drive for Toys for Tots! They'll be collecting new, unwrapped toys for deserving kids at JingleFest.
After the parade is finished, head over to Pack Square Park for JingleFest to continue the fun with lots of activities, lasting until 4 pm. JingleFest will begin with a mini concert by Trinity Baptist Jubilee Choir at 1 pm. Then it's time to enjoy non-stop entertainment on the stage hosted by Asheville Actor/comedian Tom Chalmers. You'll also get to see some of the best acts from the parade! Kids can play on giant inflatables while they are waiting for Santa to make his way back from the Parade. (This is a favorite for all little ones!) Once Santa arrives, around 2pm, kids can get their picture taken with him for FREE. Around 3pm, there will be a holiday concert by Asheville Choral Society that you don't want to miss! There will be games and giveaways, and The Best part is that IT'S ALL FREE!
If you happen to miss Santa on the day of the parade,
he'll be at the Grove Arcade every Saturday in December (until Christmas).
On December 5, Thursday, the winners of the Downtown Holiday Windows Contest will be selected and a walking tour of decorated windows will be available for download. Windows will be decorated until the end of the year.
Downtown Asheville is a great destination to experience the beautiful decorations and festivities of the holiday season throughout the end of the year! Asheville is so beautiful and the lights and decorations are breathtaking!
2013 Asheville Holiday Parade Route
The 2013 Asheville Holiday Parade will follow the same route as last year - north on Biltmore Avenue from Charlotte Street, making a left on Patton Avenue heading west.
(Source)
This is NOT a sponsored post.
I received no compensation for publishing the above article.
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