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Annual Burbank on Parade brings neighbors together and honors multiple local heroes

The Burbank-Burroughs All City band performs at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Avenue on Saturday, April 23, 2016.

The Burbank-Burroughs All City band performs at the annual Burbank on Parade, on Olive Avenue on Saturday, April 23, 2016.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
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At the 35th annual Burbank on Parade this past Saturday, heroes were celebrated and neighbors connected as the event expanded to an all-day celebration.

The parade’s theme was “Our Heroes,” which included several grand marshals: Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. Robert Friend, the Burbank Fire Department, the Burbank Police Department, eight retired Burbank Unified School District teachers, veterinarian Martin Small, actor Kevin Hobson and Sister Regina Palamera of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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The event started at 7:30 a.m. with the Burbank Fun Run/Walk and CicLABurbank bicycle ride, followed by the mile-long parade down Olive Avenue from Keystone to Lomita streets and concluded with a newly introduced post-parade festival that included live music, a diverse selection of food trucks and a car show.

Organizers estimated approximately 10,000 people attended.

“Overall, it just flowed,” said Joanne Miller, parade chairwoman, who noted the parade committee has only 12 people. She’s been involved with the parade for 30 years.

Burbank on Parade originally began in 1945 as an annual event to celebrate the end of World War II, but it lasted for only 12 years. Then, in 1981, a group of Burbank residents who enjoyed the previous spring parade and festival decided to bring it back with different themes each year.

As in parade’s past, the marching bands on Saturday were well received. Miller said. The Reseda High School NJROTC took first place among the participating high schools.

Resident June Testa sat with family at the intersection of Olive and Myers Street, and said her neighbors were saying they saw more people at this year’s parade than ever before.

Once the parade ended at George Izay Park, dozens of food trucks formed a circle near Virginia Avenue. The band Paper Rain, which regularly plays at the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank, jammed out on the stage set up on Olive in front of the park.

Vietnam War veteran and lifelong Burbank resident Mark Osbourne sat on a lawn chair in the park watching the car show with his new friend, Joe Trejo of Burbank, who was attending the parade and festival for the first time. He was showing off his 1968 Chevy Camaro Supersport, while Osbourne had his 1928 Ford Roadster on display.

“It’s great,” Trejo said. “I’ve been enjoying it. The food was good.”

Osbourne, a Burroughs graduate whose children and grandchildren have attended schools in Burbank Unified, said he comes to the parade to see his neighbors.

“I see more people I went to school with than anywhere else,” he said.

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Matt Sanderson is a freelance writer.

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