2,500 Greet Pacoima’s 32nd Annual Christmas Parade

Bettye Moore made sure the girls practiced their steps every day for four months. Sometimes she had to prod them.

Saturday morning all that work paid off as 30 girls--members of the San Fernando Gardens Project Drill Team--marched and danced along Van Nuys Boulevard as part of the Pacoima Christmas Parade.

Even after reaching the end of the route at the David M. Gonzalez Recreation Center, the girls continued dancing to the sound of Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” blaring from their boombox. The dancers, ages 2 to 13, wore black dresses with teddy bears on the front.

Moore, the coordinator and founder of the drill team, has been part of the parade for 24 years.

“It’s to keep the kids out of harm’s way and to help them do positive things in their lives,” said Moore, 51, who lives at the San Fernando Gardens at Lehigh Avenue and Pierce Street. “They always do 100%.”

The drill team was one of 65 entries in the 32nd annual parade. About 2,500 people came out to see the festivities, said Gerardo Guzman, vice president of the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event.

Fred Abraham said he came mainly to watch the Ladies First-II Hype Dance, Drill and Gospel Team. “They’re very good and they compete all over the world,” said Abraham, 31, of Pacoima.

“I feel a unity with the community when I come,” added Abraham’s mom, Norma, 65.

There were also folkloric dancers, equestrian groups such as the Rodriguez and Solis Charro Group, and a Marine Corps tank. Santa Claus waved hello from atop a Los Angeles firetruck.

Kids ran alongside the classic cars, picking up candy canes thrown by the drivers. When a lowrider drove by with one wheel in the air, the children ran past the car yelling “Cool!”

The lowriders, with their raging motors and hydraulic-powered dances, were a highlight for many onlookers. Many had glittery metal-flake paint jobs, shiny white bucket seats and polished wood dashboards. Unfortunately, one lowrider van broke down near the end of the route and had to be pushed off Van Nuys Boulevard by participants.