{"id":9546,"date":"2011-11-16T08:20:46","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T13:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=9546"},"modified":"2011-11-16T08:25:19","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T13:25:19","slug":"christmas-comes-early-the-history-of-raleigh%e2%80%99s-parade-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2011\/11\/16\/christmas-comes-early-the-history-of-raleigh%e2%80%99s-parade-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Comes Early: The History of Raleigh\u2019s Parade Date"},"content":{"rendered":"

The holiday music has already begun in some stores. Each year consumers grumble about the most wonderful time of the year and when it should actually begin.<\/p>\n

While we can\u2019t control the time stores start decorating, one question we often hear is about the Raleigh Christmas parade, which takes place this Saturday.<\/p>\n

Many of the country\u2019s biggest parades occur on Thanksgiving Day, while smaller city organizers seem content to choose a date after Thanksgiving\u2019s \u201claunch\u201d of the holiday season. For example, Durham\u2019s parade is Dec. 3 and Chapel Hill will celebrate Dec. 10. In Peoria, Ill., a city often used as a barometer for restaurants and theatre productions, the annual Santa Parade takes place the day after Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

So why does Raleigh\u2019s parade take place before?<\/p>\n

For the answer, we spoke with Jennifer Bradshaw Martin, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It turns out the 67-year-old parade has always taken place the Saturday before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was originally started by the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (originally called the Raleigh Merchants Bureau) as a way for the downtown business owners to officially kick off the Christmas shopping season,\u201d Bradshaw Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merchants Bureau was made up of all small business owners and they would organize the community event the weekend before Thanksgiving.\u00a0 This was the official kick-off to holiday shopping in Raleigh rather than the traditional Black Friday.\u00a0 So ever since, the parade is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bradshaw Martin said she often receives questions about the date, but it\u2019s not something likely to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a tradition and we are not planning on changing it.\u00a0 Just like sports teams and alma matters have tradition\u2014this is our tradition,\u201d she said. \u201cThe parade is still organized by volunteers who are small business owners.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s parade features 50 floats, including two of the largest balloons in parade history: a 50-foot and 55-foot balloon. One is The Nutcracker and the other is Animal from the Muppets.<\/p>\n

The parade will also feature a crane with a Christmas tree, the World\u2019s Largest Gummy Bear and a roller skate car.<\/p>\n

Fayetteville Street offers some of the best views, but get there early. Some people are out there as early as 7 a.m. to save their seats for the 9:40 event. Learn more about the parade at http:\/\/grma.org\/christmas-parade\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although many cities host a holiday parade on or after Thanksgiving, Raleigh\u2019s celebration takes place the Saturday before the turkey feast. We spoke with the Greater Raleigh Merchant\u2019s Association to answer a question many of you ask: Why is Raleigh\u2019s parade so early? Photo by Anodoin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24025,"featured_media":9548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24025"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}