Parade Celebrates Links to Past, Present
The Glendale High School band will step off Saturday morning from Brand Boulevard and Harvard Street, leading 150 units in the 45th annual Days of Verdugos Parade.
“We’re commemorating our Spanish heritage and celebrating our city,” said Carvel Gay, a local businessman and parade co-chairman.
Glendale’s Spanish heritage comes from the Verdugo family, which received the land that eventually became the city in a grant from the king of Spain in 1784. They lost most of it in the 1860s through a series of foreclosed mortgages. The land was then divided and bought by Anglos who later built the city.
The parade will include some Latino groups will be in traditional costumes, but the emphasis this year, according to Gay, is on the community.
“It’s community involvement,” he said. “We’re trying to get people out on a Saturday morning, to meet each other.”
KNBC news anchor Jess Marlow will be the grand marshal. Mayor Carl Raggio will be riding in the parade, and the mayor of Rosarito Beach in Baja California, Glendale’s sister city, is also expected.
Twelve junior high and high school bands will perform. The local National Guard unit will provide some armored vehicles. There will also be community groups, the Democratic and Republican parties, and 25 to 30 horses.
The parade will start at 10 a.m. and will run north on Brand Boulevard, ending at Doran Street.
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