The Festival of Lights Parade Turns 50 With a Float Fleet Los Altos Keeps All Year

In 1977, Ken Haukom was working for the City of Los Altos Department of Public Works when he heard "about folks who want to have a small parade on Thanksgiving evening." He told the Los Altos Town Crier that he remembers four or five "push-floats" built by volunteers that first year.

This year the Festival of Lights Parade Association is billing its Sunday, Nov. 29 parade as the 50th. A parade that started with a handful of hand-pushed floats now draws on a fleet of 24 floats. The association owns them, stores them in a City warehouse and has spent the last few years refitting them with battery power. The association's schedule has the last floats reaching the end of the route by about 7:45 p.m. That one evening is the only time each year the public sees the result of a float operation that runs all twelve months.

Merchants Started It, Volunteers Took It Over

Three downtown Los Altos merchants created the parade: Hope Higbee, Marion Jackston and Jack Huston. Their friends Bob Grimm, Ed Hilton and Ted Johnston helped. Maridee Huston-Charlton told the Town Crier she played a toy soldier in the first parade: "I was going to college at Foothill and dad roped me and my best friend Diane into being soldiers."

The Los Altos Village Association ran the event for a few years. In 1981 volunteers founded the parade association, and the parade has been run entirely by volunteers since then. The parade also moved from Thanksgiving evening to the Sunday night after Thanksgiving. That places this year's parade on Nov. 29, three days after the holiday.

Haukom stayed involved after the first parade. He began volunteering in the mid-1980s, and he credits former mayor Bob Grimm with getting him onto the board. His time at the City matters for what came next. Large floats need somewhere to stay between parades.

The Warehouse That Made a Fleet Possible

For the parade's first fifteen years, the floats sat in volunteers' garages. In 1992 a warehouse opened in the City's corporation yard, and since then volunteers have stored the big floats there year-round, according to Haukom's account in the Town Crier.

Once the floats had a permanent home, the lineup could grow from one parade to the next:

The 2021 parade came back after a two-year gap. It was rained out in 2019 and canceled in 2020 because of COVID restrictions. That year about 1,200 people took part, and the parade was shown live on Comcast Channel 15 for the first time. The lineup has grown since, and new floats keep joining an inventory that is never fully retired. An "Alice in Wonderland" float was new in 2024.

Students and Volunteer Engineers Do the Rebuilds

Much of the work in that warehouse now involves engineering. A new float called "The Shredders" debuted in 2021 with a system that controlled the characters' movements, lights and music. Two board members oversaw its construction, and local high school students helped build it. Longtime volunteer Nancy Schneider told the Town Crier that, thanks to a donation, the technology would be added to the rest of the floats over the following few years.

Students have stayed involved. The Town Crier reported that a group of local high school interns built the Emerald City float under the float committee's guidance. They used recycled materials and installed an onboard system that runs the animatronics, lighting and music. For the 2023 parade, the paper reported that two floats had been refurbished and that student interns had added smoke and sound effects to the train float.

The biggest change started in 2023. On its sustainability page, the association says its volunteer float engineers and interns converted 21 of the 24 floats from gas generators to lithium iron phosphate batteries, which are charged with renewable power from Silicon Valley Clean Energy. The association says the switch cut emissions and noise, and that "spectators can hear the music much better now!" The Anne Wojcicki Foundation, GreenTown Los Altos, Silicon Valley Clean Energy and several individual donors paid for the conversion.

A parade that comes out once a year can be upgraded this way because the floats don't disappear when it ends. Every battery pack and every animatronic system added in the corporation yard is still there for the next parade.

Donations Pay for the Floats, the City Covers the Street

The money is split along the same line. The City of Los Altos designated the parade a Heritage Event. Under that designation, the City provides police, infrastructure and waste management, which Haukom described as services the organizers "could not do without." The association's FAQ says private donations alone pay to build, repair and renovate the floats and costumes.

In 2024, Schneider told the Town Crier that "through contributions and grants we raise the almost $45,000 it costs to put on this free event for the community." For the 50th, the association's donation page asks people to "Celebrate 50 Years, Give $50" to the Los Altos Festival of Lights Parade Fund.

People do much of the work too. In 2024 Schneider counted more than 125 volunteers behind the scenes. They move floats to the staging area, fix lights, maintain costumes, dress characters and apply their makeup, and push or drive the floats along the route. By the 2025 parade, co-president Nora Haley told the Town Crier that more than 150 volunteers had joined the committee on parade night. She also said the 2026 parade would bring "some truly special touches throughout the parade!" Anyone who wants to help can find a volunteer sign-up linked from the association's home page.

Parade Night, Sunday, Nov. 29

The parade starts at 6 p.m. at First and State streets. The association's schedule gives these estimated times:

In 2024 the route went down State Street to Main Street, across First Street, down Whitney Avenue and across Third Street. Road closures start well before the floats do. According to the association's street closures page, the downtown triangle bounded by San Antonio Road, Edith Avenue and First Street closes at 4 p.m., and access to downtown from Foothill Expressway at Main Street closes as well.

The association's viewing guidelines cover how to hold a spot along the route:

1. Don't reserve public viewing space before noon on parade day.
2. Don't use chalk or adhesives to mark a spot.
3. Watch from sidewalks or intersections, and keep out of the roadway.
4. Don't set up in front of the parklets.
5. Leave pedestrian paths clear, including wheelchair ramps.
6. Remove anything used to hold a space by 10 p.m.

If you'd like a preview before Nov. 29, the association has posted a replay of the 2025 parade. According to Haley, Santa was the 2025 crowd favorite and "received the biggest and loudest response from kids of all ages watching the parade."

The Rest of the Downtown Holiday Calendar

The Los Altos Village Association has scheduled events downtown before and after the parade. The first is tomorrow night.

• Holiday Stroll, Friday, Nov. 13, 5 to 9 p.m. The 23rd annual stroll on Main and State streets, with carolers, lights and shop specials.
• Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A gathering at Veterans Community Plaza at Main and State, the day before the parade.
• Festival of Lights Parade, Sunday, Nov. 29, 6 p.m. The 50th, starting at First and State.
• Holiday Tree Celebration, Friday, Dec. 4, 6 to 8 p.m. Student performances, trolley rides and photos with Santa at Veterans Community Plaza.

Full details are on the Downtown Los Altos events calendar.

Like the Festival of Lights, Los Altos stays in good shape through steady, year-round care that people rarely see. If you'd like to understand what that means for your own property's value this season, Wendy Kandasamy offers a complimentary market consultation and home valuation.