After the cancellation of the decades old tradition of the BCS Christmas Parade due to new medians on Texas Avenue, the city of College Station will host its first-ever parade on Saturday, Dec. 2.
The new parade will begin at 3:30 p.m. from Post Oak Mall, travel west down Holleman, turn south on Dartmouth, cross Southwest Parkway, turn east on Krenek Tap and end at Beachy Central Park, ahead of the annual kickoff for Christmas in the Park, where the city invites community members to enjoy food vendors, Santa photos, hot chocolate, among other treats and activities.
“All of this really came from knowing that the community still wanted a big parade,” assistant to the city manager Barbara Moore says. “Of course, this year won’t be as large as the former BCS Christmas Parade, but being able to provide an option, we thought would still be good to give a try.”
Before the ultimate decision was made to cancel the original BCS Christmas Parade, Barbara says the committee attempted every solution they could imagine to allow the parade to continue, but could not find a true solution.
“The medians would cut down the larger groups such as the bands or larger vehicles and that complicated everything,” Barbara says. “We tried to find some alternative routes through both cities that would work best, but the committee did not feel that this year they would be able to pull it off, given the situation with the medians.”
Due to widespread community support, she says some committee members came together to attempt a smaller parade to help the tradition continue.
“We talked with the committee at BCS Christmas Parade, and they were super gracious in helping give us their sort of guidebook on how they set up the BCS Christmas Parade for all those years,” Barbara says. “We were aiming to get about 40 entries — at this point, we are looking at probably 70 to 75 entrants, which would be slightly smaller than BCS for our first year.”
Because of the work throughout the years put in by some of those in the original BCS Parade committee, Barbara says the new parade wanted to find a way to keep as many as they can involved as possible.
“Penny Zent, Missy Pollard and Ben Downs are the main people that kept the BCS Christmas Parade going on for many years, and they were the ones we worked with in the decision to look at the alternative routes,” Barbara says. “We felt like extending the opportunity for Penny to be the Grand Marshall and Ben as the role of Santa was so fitting because they are responsible for hundreds of thousands of BCS families enjoying the Christmas parade. Extending that opportunity and them agreeing to be a part of it was really special for us and a way to honor them for all they’ve done for the community and the tireless work they put in.”
The first-ever College Station Parade will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2. Float entry for the parade is free with an application deadline of Friday, Nov. 10 and a mandatory lineup meeting at College Station City Hall on Monday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m.. Guests are invited to watch the parade throughout town and the city will offer free parking around town to accommodate vehicles. For more information on the parade, visit cstx.gov/parade.
