Montrose Christmas parade dedicated to Frank Roberts

Santa Claus will ride in a Glendale Police helicopter and Glendale Fire truck.MONTROSE -- Frank Roberts breathed life back into the Montrose Christmas Parade 29 years ago.

This year the parade is dedicated to the man many knew as Mr. Montrose.

“Frank Roberts resurrected the parade and turned it into real local event -- a big operation for our area,” said John Drayman, of the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. “The irony is when we sat at the meeting to decide who we would dedicate the parade to, we had no idea we’d be doing it in memoriam.”

Roberts died Oct. 18, the day before the Montrose Parade Committee dedicated the Dec. 3 parade to him. He was 85.

Several of his family members will ride in the Grand Marshal’s car in his place.

This year’s parade will roll at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 on Honolulu Avenue between Rosemont Avenue and Verdugo Road.

Honolulu will close to traffic at 3 p.m.

As tradition requires, Santa Claus will fly over the parade route in a Glendale Police Department helicopter and close the parade riding on a Glendale Fire Department truck.

The parade was originally staged and funded by old-time movie star Dennis Morgan, who worked for MGM studios and lived in Montrose, Drayman said.

But when Morgan died so did the parade.

Since Roberts revived the parade, the city of Glendale, the association and the Montrose Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce joined forces to help form the Montrose Christmas Parade Assn.

Parade coordinator Dana Banks expects 125 entries for the two-hour parade that is expected to draw about 50,000.

“It’s the official Christmas parade for the city of Glendale and it features high school bands, sports groups, youth sports groups, everything,” Banks said. “The parade features anything that’s going on in the community so everybody gets a chance to strut their stuff and parents and aunts and uncles come to see it happen.”

It’s a chance for Montrose to preserve some tradition, she said.

“Montrose is so unique, besides being home to nice shops and restaurants,” she said. “It is home to several nice traditions.”

Bands from Glendale, Hoover and Crescenta Valley high schools will perform as well as the Glendale Bagpipe Band.

For more information, visit www.montrosechristmasparade.com.