Belmont Shore Announces Return of Annual Christmas Parade on Dec. 3

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Long Beach, as Belmont Shore makes way for the return of its annual Christmas Parade.

Proudly presented by Long Beach City Councilwoman Suzie Price, The Port of Long Beach and the Belmont Shore Business Association, the parade will be celebrating its 38th annual run, under the theme: “Christmas at the Movies.”

One of the largest annual events in Long Beach, the parade typically draws around 50,000 spectators, and is regarded as the second-largest holiday parade in Southern California after the Hollywood Christmas Parade.

The Beachcomber got in touch with Heather Kern, executive director at Belmont Shore Business Association, to get more information on the upcoming parade.

According to Kern, the parade will include musical performances from local marching bands, as well as hundreds of other participants and parade floats created by local businesses across Long Beach.

“We have about fifteen bands from across Long Beach that will be participating in the parade,” Kern said. “We also have about 20 physical floats that are being designed by local businesses to be featured in the parade.”

According to Kern, some of the local businesses designing the floats include:

• Nu Du Salon.
• Long Beach Pride.
• McCarthy’s Jewelry
• Gondola Getaway.

“There are also a lot of school organizations and non-profit organizations that will be in charge of designing floats for the parade this year,” Kern said. “We’ll also be having participants from local animal organizations like the Aquarium of the Pacific and So Cal Corgis joining the parade.”

Kern also confirmed that the parade in Belmont Shore will also include guests from Long Beach’s political offices, including Mayor Robert Garcia.

“We will also have three hosts for the parade, which include: Lisa Ramalow, John Grosfi and Paul Slater.”

The annual Christmas parade will also be featuring its Grand Marshal of the festivities: Bruce MacRae, a regional vice president for UPS and longtime community leader in Long Beach.

“MacRae has been a commentator for the parade for several years now, and we are excited to have him as this year’s grand marshal,” Kern said.

And of course, the parade will also be featuring the one and only Santa Claus.

Another special note about this year’s parade, according to Kern, is that it will be the first time the parade will be livestreamed online.

“It [the parade] has always been a full-production,” Kern said. “And this year we will be livestreaming the entire event on our website, for the people that want to watch it from home.”

This year’s parade will also be special, as it is the first Christmas parade the city has done since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Up until this year, the parade was replaced by Belmont Shore’s Winter Village.

“The parade is a part of local family tradition in Long Beach,” Kern said. “So the fact the parade is finally returning, after such a long time, is almost like seeing a long-lost family member.”

The 38th Annual Christmas Parade is scheduled for Dec. 3, at 6-9 p.m. The route of the parade starts on the south side of East Second Street, heading east from Livingston Drive to Bayshore Avenue and returning on the north side of 2^nd Street.

For more information, you can visit Belmont Shore’s official website at https://belmontshore.org/events/christmas-parade.