Hot Time For All at Holiday Parade

As the sounds of military music filled the downtown area Saturday morning, Pfc. Marco Cabibbo, a reservist at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, stood behind a tub of toys that eventually will brighten the Christmas of underprivileged children.

One of the toys had been tossed into the barrel by a boy who wasn’t tall enough to look into the cardboard, 50-gallon drum.

“He told me, ‘This is for another little boy,’ ” Cabibbo said. “That was really great.”

The air was full of Christmas spirit Saturday morning as thousands of people flocked to the Civic Center area of Santa Ana for the Sixth Annual Times Orange County Holiday Parade and Tournament of Champions.

The theme of this year’s parade, dubbed “California’s Other Parade,” was “Traveling to a Holiday Adventure.” The procession included more than 25 floats festooned with flowers, 150 horses, 16 marching bands and eight gigantic helium balloons that floated several stories above the crowd.

In addition, the U.S. Marine Corps helped fulfill the dreams of disadvantaged children by collecting for its Toys for Tots program during the 6,000-participant parade, which wound its way for seven blocks in 90 minutes.

This year’s turnout was estimated to top last year’s 30,000 attendance. For many of the parade goers who lined Broadway, 17th and Main streets, the event was a perfect way to kick off the Christmas season, despite the unseasonable heat that caused many to doff shirts and shoes. The temperature rose to 83 degrees in downtown Santa Ana, said Bill Hibbert at WeatherData.

Shouts of “Merry Christmas!” and “Feliz Navidad!” to parade participants were common along the route. The Disneyland contingent that included cartoon chipmunks Chip and Dale passed by blaring, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” a song made famous in the animated television special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“I like it, especially the big Popeye,” said 6-year-old onlooker Cheyenne Knight, referring to the oversize cartoon character that floated down the streets.

Dignitaries in the parade included former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon; Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the County Board of Supervisors; 11-year-old Tony Aliengena, the San Juan Capistrano boy who piloted a small plane around the world this year; Umberto Luna, a popular radio personality for the Spanish-language station KTNQ, and cowboy star Monte Montana.

By 11:30, parade participants--many of whom were wearing heavy costumes--began to suffer from the worsening heat.

Just before the city’s float was launched, Miss Huntington Beach and her court, all in satin dresses, were beginning to wilt along with the flowers.

“It’s really hot,” complained Cheryl Martin, one of four runners-up riding alongside queen Tracy Sawyer.

Police Lt. Earl Porter said the crowd was well-behaved and traffic control went smoothly although major thoroughfares were closed throughout the day.

But the parade was not without some minor glitches. About half an hour before it began, workers were frantically trying to patch up holes in the inflatable Raggedy Andy that had unexpectedly appeared.

One glitch had scary overtones as a U.S. Marine Corps equestrian team member lost control of his mount early in the parade.

The mounted Marine lost his hat and almost lost his grasp on the flag he was carrying as the horse bucked and spun around. The horse, apparently spooked by the first blaring notes of the Santa Ana Unified School District marching band, nearly ran into a crowd of onlookers sitting on the curb.

The parade was held in conjunction with the 16th annual marching band competition of the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Assn. Twenty-four school bands, chosen from about 450 in Southern California, competed in the tournament at Santa Ana Stadium, Corrigan said.