Holiday Parade Is a Hit With Crowd of 75,000 : Pageantry: Spectators line Santa Ana, Costa Mesa route to watch bands, equestrian units and giant balloons.

By 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Marlene Acosta, her son and several other children from her neighborhood had already staked out their territory with blankets, snacks, lawn chairs and thermoses filled with hot chocolate.

“There’s no point unless you’re in the front row,” said Acosta, explaining her early start for The Times Orange County Holiday Parade as her 5-year-old son, Carlos, and his friends cheered and waved at the passing floats. “This is (Carlos’) first parade. I figured if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right.”

Acosta and about 75,000 others, according to police estimates, lined a mile-long parade route Saturday to be entertained by more than two dozen marching bands that provided a musical backdrop for the myriad of floats, dancers, equestrian units and other spectacles that thrilled adults and children alike.

Santa Claus leading his reindeer and sleigh down Bristol Street surrounded by dancing, prancing elves received the most applause, while giant helium-filled balloons shaped like Popeye and other cartoon characters were also a crowd favorite.

Children began shouting “Garfield,” even though the huge helium-filled orange cat was actually another cartoon kitty, Heathcliff, and many cheered and clapped as guides maneuvered the giant balloons around traffic lights.

“This really gets the holiday season going, it puts you in the spirit,” said Cheryl Marshal of Costa Mesa as she watched the parade with her 5-year-old son, Grant. His attention was riveted to the Medieval Times equestrian unit, featuring knights on costumed horses.

“Those horses are scary,” Grant said. “Their heads are under hoods.”

Grant’s friend, Matthew Bregozzo, 5, of Irvine, said he favors the marching bands--especially the drums.

“The drums make my stomach pound,” he explained.

For May Nguyen, 5, the parade held little holiday significance. It was her chance to see her big brother, Hien, 13, perform with the Fountain Valley High School Band.

“She’s been watching him practice for many weeks,” said May’s mother, Hoang Nguyen. “She wants to see him in his uniform and hat.”

The parade saluted the cultural diversity of Orange County with its theme: “A Pageant of International Discovery.” Floats and pageant entrants representing a variety of ethnic backgrounds included the Fraternidad Guatemalteca, the Fiesta Folklorico Dancers, Greek dancers from Anaheim and the San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Assn. Dragon and Lion Dancers.

The parade began about 9:30 a.m. on Bristol Street at Alton Avenue in Santa Ana and traveled to Sunflower Avenue, where it turned right and then ended at Plaza Drive outside the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

The parade temporarily snarled traffic for shoppers trying to get to the mall.

Some of the more unusual pageant entrants included a Rastafarian Santa Claus, complete with white dreadlocks, who led the U.S. Navy Steel Drum Band’s “Caribbean Garden” float.

The Llamas of Norco organization used the parade to introduce the crowds to the gentle beasts. Leading several of the woolly creatures decorated with festive ribbons, the llamas looked nearly as confused as parade-goers.

“What is that?” asked a little boy. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one of those,” his mother answered.