Spirit on the March

For Linda Manios, this community’s annual holiday parade is a family affair.

Her house on Chatsworth Street is along the parade route, and every year relatives gather to watch the festivities from the Manioses’ frontyard.

About 25 family members and guests ate barbecue Sunday as they viewed the 16th annual parade. Manios said she most enjoys waving at marching children.

“It’s so important to them. They’re not up there for show, like the politicians and stars,” Manios said.

There were all sorts of participants in the Granada Hills Holiday Parade, which included 160 entries. Among them were teenage beauty pageant winners and marchers wearing Renaissance costumes, American Revolutionary outfits and Union uniforms evoking the Civil War.

Onlookers applauded when a man on horseback twirled a lasso around himself and his brown-and-white mount.

But a contingent of dogs from the Guide Dogs of America received some of the loudest applause. The canines, mainly Labrador retrievers, wore reindeer antlers, sunglasses and feathers. The dogs and their handlers were accompanied by the recorded sound of dogs barking to the tune of “Jingle Bells.”

The tune “Sleigh Ride” blared from a firetruck converted into a float. The truck, which was covered with faux snow, carried traditional Christmas carolers.

Several school marching bands and drill teams joined in to perform with live holiday music, as members of the Northridge United Methodist Church sang their holiday message to a rock ‘n’ roll beat.

“It’s just like a small-town thing. It seems everyone from town is here,” said Jamie Baumgartner, 30, of Granada Hills who came to watch with her son, Kyle, 5, and their Saint Bernard, Beauty.

An estimated 20,000 people showed up to watch the parade, said Jim Sigler, the event’s veteran announcer. At times, Sigler poked fun at the onlookers. “A lady is now wandering down the street,” he quipped as a woman crossed between entrants to get to the other side of Chatsworth Street.

Some came to see the antique cars, which included several classic Ford Mustangs, while a lot of children--including a group of boys shooting each other with Silly String--used the parade as an excuse to play.

More than a few spectators, often with camcorders, walked along the route to record friends or relatives who were part of the parade.

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Peggy Casey said she wanted to see her 13-year-old daughter, Leanne Bennett, twirl flags as she marched with Nobel Middle School.

“It may not be the fancy Rose Bowl Parade, but hey, this is home folks here,” said Casey, 41, of Reseda. “It’s fun to see kids performing and doing their thing. It’s definitely brought the spirit out here.”

“At this time of year [the parade] gets everybody excited for Christmas,” added Cristy Kamar, 41, of La Crescenta. “It kind of makes you wish it would snow.”