Parade of Lights

I’ve been coming to the parade for more than 10 years and have watched it grow from a few pickup trucks with trailers to a real parade. No, it’s not Macy’s NYC parade… it’s Lodi… a small town and that’s what makes it so much better than the slick big city productions. Lots of really, really good floats this year, plus the marching bands, a for real monster truck, a badass rat rod, a huge grape harvester, and horses, and antique cars, and little kids dressed up in wacky outfits and Santa on the ginormous antique ladder truck. Lots of people everywhere, but not a crush of people. We got there right after it’d started and went to a spot in front of the movie theater and was able to see the whole parade. Moved to Angelos and sat outside and had dinner while we watched it go by. Not cold, not wet… perfect. We parked about two blocks away. No trouble getting in or out. Lots of security and crowd/​traffic control everywhere. I always look forward to the parade. Let’s me be a kid again for a few minutes.

Who doesn’t enjoy a good small-​town light parade?!
Nearly 100 entries of lights and entertainment, how can you go wrong. This year was great. The weather was perfect, no wind and no rain. The floats were fantastic!!!
Of course, you have to arrive early to get a good spot but it’s well worth it. This year, we were lucky not to need any additional layers or blankets. The setting was perfect!
If you have never been, the light parade is a MUST in Lodi. One of the many reasons to love living in this town.

Good times for the entire family. Just like an old time Christmas should be. Streets are lined packed full of families and especially the kids. Folks will start staking out locations the night before by sitting their chairs out curb side. Entire downtown section is shut down to traffic which is the parade route. Plan to get there early and stay late since traffic is snarled in the area, but well worth it. Just an FYI every restaurant and fast food place is packed after the parade, keep that in mind.
Dale S. Commented on the «Sad floats» first of all, if you live in Lodi you know that this parade happens the first Thursday night in December as it has for the past 19 years. The route of the parade is marked out in advance in the local paper, and has been the same route for 19 years. They place notices out around town a good 24 hours in advance of the parade as to the no parking areas. And the police and police volunteers are out in force to direct traffic. And I might also add that the «few» floats that he stated happened to be 84 floats this year. One has to remember that this is not the Macy’s parade, but a small town celebration of Christmas. The city does an awesome job organizing and executing this parade and getting traffic moving as fast as they can afterwards. And as a closing note, it wasn’t cold, it was a balmy 60 degrees this year at parade time.

I had no choice but to see part of yesterdays «Parade of Lights» as I was STUCK in traffic on the same block for over 20 minutes last night. This is not an exaggeration; I actually timed it. My parents live 18 blocks from me and I have to pick up my son from their house after work. The trip home usually takes me 5 minutes but yesterday it took almost an hour. People could not drive or park! Traffic was ridiculous and the worst part was that the officers and people who were supposed to be alleviating the problems were nowhere to be found. I saw no signs posted prior to the event; nothing telling people what the route was, where to go or how to get out of the mess of traffic.
I had no desire to see the «Parade of Lights» but because we were stuck for so long I had no choice. I cannot believe people were out in the streets with their kids to watch a 90’s sedan with a few Christmas lights attached to it pass by. The few «floats» we saw were indescribably sad and I am still confounded as to why people would go sit in the cold for this…
Next year, I will keep my eye out for any information on this and will not leave my house. Shame on the city for this embarrassment and their inability to plan an execute such an event in a reasonable and safe manner.

Oh Lodi! it’s these events that make you so amazing!
I love the light parade. I love seeing all the kids on the floats and hanging out with awesome friends in front of Fields Family Winery Downtown Tasting Room & Wine Bar.
This year was by far the best. The weather wasn’t freezing cold as in past years. No rain either. The best float was the Pacific Coast Producers Polar Express float. It really looked like a train!
We cannot wait until next year!

A local Holiday tradition by the City of Lodi that the whole family can enjoy!
Think of it as a cross between Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade and a normal small city parade. 60 or so floats put together with hundreds of Christmas lights going through the streets of Downtown Lodi!
This year they even changed the start time to 6:17pm, just to make sure everyone would remember what time it starts.
Only in Lodi… its what makes this town so cute.
:0)

This was the 17^th year for «Parade of Lights» and I just now heard about it?
Guess I have been living under a rock.
Well worth the effort to see this hometown production. It can be a little on the
cool side so bring a heavy jacket… and maybe a lawn chair… and maybe a thermos
of hot coffee or chocolate.
There were 80 lighted entries in the parade this year. Started a bit late but
when you go to an event like this you really can’t be in a rush. It went south
on Church, east on Lodi Ave and then north on School through the downtown
area.
Put it on your schedule for next year… I am!