The popular, community-oriented, family-friendly Christmas Parade returns and its grand marshal is named.

By Mary O’KEEFE

The last time the community lined Honolulu Avenue to watch the Montrose Glendale Christmas Parade was in 2019, but now this very hometown/small-town event returns on Dec. 3 at 6:10 p.m.

The pandemic and its restrictions made it impossible for the parade to take place. The event has traditionally hosted thousands of people along Honolulu as lawn chairs began to be set up early on the day of the parade.

“It’s been a challenge,” said Cheryl Davis, coordinator of the Montrose Christmas Parade Association, about starting up the parade again.

This is Davis’ 10^th year working on the parade. This year the challenges have been from several areas including vendors who are either no longer in business or have raised their prices. There are also fewer entries this year than in the past.

The Montrose Christmas Parade Association is a non-profit organization and is volunteer driven; however, the parade does require a lot of funding including permits, barricades to block the route, portable toilets, event insurance, which all require equipment and paid labor. 

“And there has been an increase in labor costs,” Davis added.

She said she feels very lucky because of all of the community and business support the organization has received, and added the parade could not happen if it wasn’t for the support of the Montrose Shopping Park Association and the City of Glendale, which covers the cost for the police.

“And I want to say a thank you to all the volunteers. They came together willingly and are so helpful. They didn’t even blink when [I asked them to] return,” she said.

There was one easy decision this year for Davis and the Montrose Christmas Parade board: the choice of the grand marshal. This year former Glendale police chief Carl Povilaitis, who recently retired from GPD, will be honored as the grand marshal.

“The board chose Carl because of his length of service to [our community]. He has given his whole life to the City,” Davis said. “If anyone deserves to be grand marshal it’s Carl.”

The return of the Montrose Christmas Parade is bittersweet for the board. While everyone is happy to be back after the pandemic-induced hiatus familiar faces will not be participating this year. One person whose absence has been felt by the board and volunteers is Barry Logan.

“Barry was my mentor,” Davis said.

Logan passed away over the summer. He was honored this Veterans Day by the American Legion Post 288 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1614 at their ceremony at Two Strike Park.

Logan was always at Davis’ side during the parade planning and the day of the event. He was the one all looked to with questions about everything parade. He organized and kept the parade running – literally – as he was the traffic marshal and he coordinated the golf carts that helped manage the behind-the-scenes volunteers.

The parade does have fewer entries this year but the hometown parade favorites will still be making their way down Honolulu including Crescenta Valley High School JROTC, CVHS robotics Falkons team 589, Clark Magnet High School robotics team 696 – the Circuit Breakers – and many school bands including those from Crescenta Valley High School and Rosemont Middle School.

Davis has extended registration for parade entry to tomorrow, Friday. For those who would like to be a parade participant go to https://montrosechristmasparade.com.

The parade route extends from Rosemont Avenue to Verdugo Boulevard along Honolulu Avenue. The parade will begin at 6:10 p.m. There are several street closures including Honolulu Avenue from La Crescenta Avenue to Verdugo Boulevard, and the streets that feed onto Honolulu Avenue. There are no pop-up tents allowed due to the pedestrians and crowds along the parade route. The Association’s Glendale City permit requires that chairs/blankets not to be placed along the parade route until the day of the parade.