With the theme being “A Very Merry Christmas with Joyful Sounds,” the annual Apopka Christmas Parade will take front and center on Saturday, December 9, from 10 a.m. to around noon.
Parade participants will traverse the traditional parade route from Third Street north along Park Avenue to Votaw Road.
Entrants continue to sign up to participate, and the Foliage Sertoma Club of Apopka, the organization putting the parade together, is still looking for entrants. It’s the 41st year that the Sertoma Club has sponsored the Apopka Christmas Parade.
“I think we’re on track to get close to, at, or maybe beyond our normal 100 entries. It will still be a two-hour parade,” said Pat MacGuffin, Sertoma Club president.
Five high school marching bands are scheduled to participate in the parade: Apopka, Wekiva, Jones, Evans and Ocoee.
The kickoff sponsor is Brookdale Wekiwa Springs Assisted Living Facility, meaning the facility’s float is the first to ride in the parade. Florida Hospital Apopka is the parade’s presenting sponsor.
An Apopka Memorial Middle School band will not march in the parade, but will perform from 8:30-9:30 a.m. in the park prior to the parade.
Foliage Sertoma Club members selected Steve Deviese, who has spent many years as chairman of the parade, to serve as grand marshal of the parade. He is a CPA in the city.
The same three judges from last year are back to award the best float entrants and marching bands.
The extended version of this story appears on page 1A of the Friday, December 1, issue of The Apopka Chief.
