For nearly ten years, on the first Friday night of December, Carl Dudley of Pacific Western Bank stood at the corner of Chorro and Palm Streets in downtown San Luis Obispo, facing rows of cars and Floats.

When 7 o'clock in the evening came and people's expectations were getting higher and higher, Dudley, who had been a volunteer since 2006, started the SLO holiday parade. One after another floats looked at him eagerly, waiting for the green light to turn on, and they began their feat of crossing the city center. Thousands of locals lined up on the sidewalk, sitting on lawn chairs, covered with blankets.

"Everyone must pass me," Dudley told the New Times with a smile of his role as the starter of the parade. "I can meet everyone. This is a real bonus."

Dudley looks forward to playing this ritual role in the main festival events in SLO County every winter. But last year, his winning streak at the starting line ended unexpectedly. Due to COVID-19, the parade was cancelled and approximately 10,000 typical locals who participated were told to stay at home.

"It's sad," Dudley said. "You have a tradition, and then suddenly you have a hole. I like the parade. It brings the kids out. As part of the downtown community, this is a good family activity for us."

This December marked the triumphant return of the SLO holiday parade. The epidemic cannot be delayed for another year. On December 3, the parade — and Dudley — will return as if it had never left, celebrating its 45th anniversary.

"This is so exciting," said Bettina Swigger, CEO of the downtown SLO Association who participated in the parade. "We are ready to exercise these muscles again."

According to Sweig, the parade is based on the California dream, which looks similar to the past few years, but has some quirks, changes, and additions related to the pandemic.

First, the parade must bypass the new parks in the city center, which were installed in restaurants last year to promote more outdoor dining. But Swigger said that the park actually adds an interesting new element to the parade, because diners can watch them up close by the food and drinks.

"Don't be afraid," she said, there are still plenty of sidewalks for families and spectators to put down their lawn chairs as usual. The parade route will also remain unchanged.

"There is plenty of room to do this," Sweig said. "There are 28 parks and not all of them are on the parade route."

The downtown SLO has developed some special plans to respect and recognize the reality of the pandemic, the losses it has caused, and the people fighting the epidemic on the front lines.

"We salute our first responders and medical staff," Sweig said. "We will start our march with the staff of Tenet Health and Dignity Health [hospital] and the St. Louis ambulance. This is a way of expressing gratitude."

Then, about 80 parade groups—representing schools, businesses, non-profit organizations, and various organizations—will take to the streets to showcase their creativity and holiday spirit.

Sweig said that the "California Dream" theme that locals voted for in social media polls will showcase the glorious diversity of the Golden State.

"This is a very broad subject," she said. "We can expect to see a lot of beach themes, maybe someone is carrying a surfboard."

Although canceling the parade last year was a difficult decision for SLO downtown, Swigger said that the silver lining is that it forces the association to propose other COVID-19 safe holiday products for families to enjoy the downtown. In response to popular demand, some of them will return this season.

"We really did our best," Sweig said. "Mission Plaza’s installations-we brought them back in different forms. Some amazing things happened: Santa Claus was on his front lawn, a huge walk-through ornament, a 20-foot-tall Christmas tree, in California The theme of taking pictures in your dreams. We will also carry out a treasure hunt together with the Children’s Museum."

The SLO festival parade and other festival celebrations in the city center take months to plan and require the efforts of people from all walks of life in the city and the community. Sweig said that the parade organization usually starts in the summer, and by the first Friday of December, hundreds of people have devoted a lot of time to planning the night.

"It really takes the whole village," she said.

Dudley said he was happy to see that epic float on Chorro Street again.

"Participants must be irritated, especially the children, because they missed it last year," Dudley said. "I think families and ordinary people need some kind of normalcy, and this provides it."

Although Dudley as an organizer only participated in 15 of the 45 SLO holiday parades, he saw how the annual tradition anchored the community and united the families who returned year after year.

"Look at how many things have changed in the past 45 years. It's a constant," he said. "It's not just the energy invested by employees, but also cities, communities, and participants-some of these organizations may have been around for 45 years and are involved.

"It is always impressive to be able to maintain such a tradition." Δ

You can contact Assistant Editor Peter Johnson at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.

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