Local residents, business owners and even some of their dogs
will take the streets of downtown Gilroy this weekend to get in the
swing of the holiday spirit.
Local residents, business owners and even some of their dogs will take the streets of downtown Gilroy this weekend to get in the swing of the holiday spirit.
The annual Gilroy Holiday Parade Celebration, hosted by the Gilroy Downtown Business Association and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, will include a doggie dress-up contest, in which pet owners can deck their dogs in Christmas attire, for the first time.
Parade organizer Albert Lambert predicts that this year’s parade will contain about 50 entries, up from 42 last year. He estimated that about 1,500 people attended last year’s event, which runs between Fourth and Sixth streets on Monterey Street.
“Every year, it gets a little bit bigger,” Lambert said.
The doggie dress-up competition, organized by The Pet Peddler, will kick off the event at 3:30 p.m.
Dogs will be rated in categories such as most creative, funniest and most original attire. Pets also will be automatic entrants in the parade. Folks who want to enter their dogs do not need to register in advance.
Entertainment will be provided by Gilroy Unified School District elementary choirs, Suzuki Violin Studio of Gilroy violin students and a barbershop quartet among others.
The parade itself, which will begin at 5:30 p.m., has myriad entries, including businesses, church groups, schools and the local police and fire departments.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage will light the downtown Christmas tree sometime about 6:45 p.m. or 7 p.m., depending on when the parade ends, Lambert said.
Children can decorate cookies at Studio Three Dance after the parade, and hey can have their pictures taken with Santa at the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce.
Although some businesses close for the event, many stay open and decorate their interiors, Lambert said.
Ro Gaeta, owner of The Bike Center on Monterey Street, said earlier this week that the holiday event draws far more people to his store than the traditional Black Friday after-Thanksgiving shopping day.
“We try to encourage (businesses) to stay open because there are tons of people down there,” Lambert said.
Although the event is quite an ordeal to organize, Lambert said it’s all worth it in the end.
“My payment is just seeing the smiles on the kids faces and on the parents,” he said.
For information, call Albert Lambert at 781-3396.
