Holiday Parade Blows Through Old Town

After a windstorm , a small but mighty crowd of Monrovians showed up on Myrtle Avenue Wednesday to finally celebrate.

The rescheduled parade began at Chestnut Street on Wednesday night and continued up Myrtle, which was decked out in a festive spirit that matched the mood of the parade's attendees and participants.

It started off with two school students carrying a banner, followed by Mayor Mary Ann Lutz waving and shouting "Merry Christmas!" to the spectators.

The parade included floats, dancers, baton twirlers, and musicians. Board of Education members and "Teacher of the Year" Paula Mariscal drove by in classic cars, and young onlookers scooped up the Christmas candy they threw into the crowds. They were followed by the musical accompaniment of the Wildcats as they marched.

Coworkers Robert Byrd, Zack Klepper, and Joyce Mills were among the residents who set up lawn chairs early to get a good viewing spot. Byrd, Klepper, and Mills all work for Exxon Mobil and said that they had relocated to Monrovia earlier in the year to work with Worley Parsons. Byrd said he was disappointed to miss the tree-lighting ceremony because of the windstorm, but they were looking forward to viewing their first Monrovia Christmas parade.

At the corner of Myrtle and Palm where the parade ended, many onlookers lamented the loss of the Christmas tree to last week's winds. 

The tree's stump, surrounded by yellow "Police Do Not Cross" tape, sat behind a tombstone-like boulder from Monrovia's old city hall in .

"It's so sad! Poor tree!" a group of school children exclaimed as they passed.

Nevertheless, the overall mood of the evening was joyful.

"We're in it every year. This is the best year. With the whole disaster that happened last week, it meant even more to us," said of Two Dog's Petsitting. Havens, accompanied by Bicycle the Donation Dog, drove up Myrtle in a white convertible covered with Christmas balls, lights, pinwheels and snowflakes.

"Some of the decorations are getting to be more and more elaborate each year," said long-time resident Joanne Spring. Spring was standing in front of Monrovia's selling $1 chocolate chip cookies from Monrovia's hotel to support , a non-profit literacy organization.

She said that others with Monrovia Reads were stationed in front of , , and with the goal of selling 500 cookies that night.

"That buys a lot of books," Spring said.

Spring said that she has been coming out for about ten years, and also mentioned the Monrovia Reads mobile library van, which was in this year's parade.

Liza Guerrero, a recreation leader for the City of Monrovia, who also works with MRP (Monrovia Reads and Plays) was also in attendance.

"It's a great after school program. Many of the kids are in the parade," she said of MRP.

After about one and half hours, the parade came to a close. The finale was the city's Santa sleigh float, which held the city's Employees of the Year and included a ho-hoing Santa Claus.

The sleigh was pulled by a truck, which was decorated with lights in the shape of reindeer antlers on the roof, and a glowing red ball reminiscent of Rudolph's nose.