Marching Season for 7 Holiday Parades

Several holiday parades featuring marching bands, floats and equestrian groups will herald the start of the holiday season.

More than 150 entries, including 32 high school and junior high bands, are expected to participate in the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce Christmas/Holiday Parade on Saturday. The parade starts at 10 a.m. at 10th Street West and Lancaster Boulevard, and heads east on Lancaster Boulevard to Division Street.

Santa Claus kicks off the Montrose Christmas Parade, also Saturday, with a fly-over in a Glendale police helicopter. The parade steps off on Honolulu Avenue between Ocean View Boulevard and Wickham Way, in the Montrose Shopping Park, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The 17th annual Granada Hills Holiday Parade--which drew an estimated 20,000 spectators last year--will start at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Petit Park, traveling west along Chatsworth Avenue and concluding at Granada Hills High School.

A Wells Fargo horse-drawn stagecoach is among the entries in the 33rd annual Pacoima Christmas Parade on Dec. 9. The 9 a.m. parade will travel down Van Nuys Boulevard, starting at Amboy Avenue and continuing north to Glenoaks Boulevard.

A holiday parade in Palmdale, with the theme of “Holiday Magic,” is also planned for Dec. 9, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Palmdale Boulevard and 20th Street East. The parade, with 120 entries, continues west on Palmdale Boulevard to 10th Street East.

On Dec. 10, the 17th annual Chatsworth Holiday Parade, organized by the Kiwanis Club of Chatsworth, will begin at 1 p.m., traveling east on Devonshire Street, from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Mason Avenue.

The Studio City Parade will kick off at 6 p.m. Dec. 16 at Ventura Boulevard and Whitsett Avenue, continuing east on Ventura Boulevard to Laurel Canyon Boulevard.