The kickoff to the city’s Hometown Holiday celebration featured more than 30 entries including floats, decorated cars and walking groups that made their way along 10th Street and Central Avenue to the Downtown Plaza.
The second of three storms that dropped a total of 1,78 inches of rain of Tracy, according to a gauge at 10th and A streets, dampened the route but wasn’t enough to wash away spectators.
Karla Woodard, along with her daughter Kim Davis and granddaughter Brooke, waited for the parde to start with their umbrellas at the ready as the evening’s first raindrops fell.
“It’s a tradition. We just like to come down and watch the parade,” Woodard said. “We have our umbrellas if it rains.”
Davis echoed the sentiment, saying the family attends the parade rain or shine.
“The parade brings in the Christmas season,” she said.
Other spectators huddled under blankets as they sat in chairs along 10th Street and Central Avenue. Some looked for cover under business awnings or trees along the parade route.
Parade entrants made the best of the weather they could.
Tracy High School marching band members wrapped their instruments in plastic, while some floats were fixed with portable canopies to shelter their riders from the rain.
First-time parade entrant Tiffany Longtain-Flores and her Tiny Toes Gymnastics crew had a wagon sleigh drawn by students dressed as reindeer. Even though the rain was approaching, they were happy about participating.
“The students are excited they are reindeer — it’s a community holiday spirit,” she said.
The parade lasted almost an hour as the entrants wound their way to the plaza on Sixth Street and Central Avenue, where Tracy Mayor Pro Tem Mike Maciel officiated over the lighting of the city’s holiday tree.
• Contact Glenn Moore at 835-4252 or gmoore@tracypress.com
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