Parade History

It all began with the idea to bring a parade back to downtown Oakland to celebrate the rebirth of the city and its renewed viability. The Chamber and Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland joined together with a multitude of Parade Pioneers and local businesses to make this dream a reality. The first annual Oakland Holiday Parade was held in 2000 and over 30,000 people attended.

Within a few short years, the Oakland Holiday Parade has not only become Northern California’s premier family event, but has become recognized as "America's Children's Holiday Parade". In December 2007, the eighth annual parade attracted more than 100,000 children of all ages to the streets of downtown Oakland and received television coverage in more than 21 markets throughout the United States, Canada and overseas.

Today, the parade is broadcast throughout North America on PBS television affiliates and around the world on the American Forces Network. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is the single most televised special event, broadcast on six different television stations more than a dozen times. The parade now attracts participants from across the country and plans to continue it's quality growth.