Crowd of about 200,000 enjoys 112th annual parade

Brielle Thomas’ mother was excited to surprise her daughter.

“Remember when you went to Disneyland?” Michelle Thomas, who was visiting from Yorba Linda, asked the 4-year-old as the pair waited for the annual Fourth of July Parade on Monday morning.

The girl nodded as she pointed to her shirt, adorned with a red, white and blue variation of Minnie Mouse.

Just hours earlier, Thomas learned Minnie would be co-grand marshal with Mickey Mouse but opted not to tell her daughter.

“Minnie! Mommy, look! It’s Minnie!” Brielle screamed as the Disney character rode in a horse-pulled carriage alongside her beau.

The two-hour parade was full of excitement for the approximately 200,000 spectators that stretched down Main Street from Pacific Coast Highway to Yorktown Avenue.

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Nearly 130 floats and groups were in the 112th annual parade that included live gymnasts, singers, large inflatable balloons and celebrities, like NFL player Tony Parrish, actress Hadley Belle Miller and radio personality Tim Conway Jr.

The military also played a big role in this year’s festivities.

Fighter jets and historic plane, flew overhead during the parade and throughout the day as people enjoyed the beach, shopping and dining.

Many of those in attendance at the parade stood as 343 marchers — some of whom traveled from New York and were on duty during the Sept. 11 attack at the World Trade Center that killed nearly 3,000 people — carried American flags down the three-mile-long route.

World War II veterans and Civil War reenactors also drew positive responses from the crowd.

The parade has been a tradition for many Surf City residents and out-of-towners.

Theresa Baleanu, a former Huntington Beach resident who now lives in Moreno Valley, staked out her spot on the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway earlier that morning.

She was excited to spend the day with her seven children and 13 grandchildren, some of whom traveled from out of state.

“We’ve come back almost every year,” said Baleanu, who moved five years ago. “My kids wanted to go back to the tradition. There are no words to describe this parade. It’s just awesome. Moreno Valley has nothing on this.”

John Palomares, who sat on a center median on Pacific Coast Highway with his wife Lydia, said he hasn’t missed a parade in 60 years.

He said he has learned the prime spots for viewing and knew to take this one up as fast as he could, while respecting the city’s rules of not staking a spot before 7 a.m. the day before the parade.

He marked off the area with chalk right at 7 a.m. Sunday morning and set their chairs down a few hours before the parade.

“We’ve been coming to this spot for years,” Palomares said. “We weren’t worried people taking our spot. It’s not like Disneyland where you claim a spot for the parade with blanket then it’s gone. People are respectful.”

Mayor Jim Katapodis said this was one of the largest turnouts he has seen at the parade.

“It felt very community oriented. A lot of people seemed to actually know who I was this year,” he said, chuckling.

Following the parade, residents and visitors crowded the downtown area by shopping and dining on Main Street and at Pacific City, which also hosted games like ping pong and foosball out on the decks and oversized beer pong and bean bag tosses at Saint Marc Pub - Cafe, Bakery & Cheese Affinage.

At night, the city presented its annual fireworks show, as thousands of people parked blankets and towels on the sand to enjoy the 30-minute presentation from the beach.

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Brittany Woolsey, brittany.woolsey@latimes.com

Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey