Festival of Lights Parade

Update: Although I love this parade, I am giving it a lower rating because of the annoying crowds. This year, my family showed up an hour before to grab a bite and find a good seat. I was shocked to find the entire route was completely taken by people who had come early in the morning and used sidewalk chalk to mark large areas as their own. There were very few people actually sitting in those spots, just their last names written in a very large rectangle of space that would seat about a dozen comfortably. What. the eff. is. that? That is some seriously obnoxious behavior. Let’s face it, that is pretty representative of some of the Los Altos community (do you feel the entitlement and extreme competitiveness?). Sorry, about my rant there. I just thought that you might want to know that you are going to have to get up with the sunrise and tackle someone (probably a nanny) in order the write your own name on a half-​block worth of parade route if you want a good view.

Whether it is cold, wet, or nice, we have been enjoying this with or children, and now, our grand children too, for years and years.
Grabbing a spot on the curb is difficult.
Parking is a bear.
The parade moves quickly, the bands are always good, the floats are fun.

We went there last year and totally enjoyed the lighted floats, local High School marching bands, glowing costumed characters, Santa with his sleigh and reindeer… Lots of kids were waving glow sticks.
However, this year I left home at 5pm (the parade was scheduled to start at 6pm. Normally it takes me 10 min to get to that area.) I drove around and around in the dark for an hour without finding a parking space and had to return home.
At 6pm I parked outside our home. And my almost 4 yr old said: let’s leave the car home and walk to the parade.

Totally charming and a fairly impressive undertaking for a small (ish) town. Lots of floats sponsored by local businesses and organizations, and marching bands from nearby high schools, all lit up like a gentler version of Disney’s Main Street Electric Parade. We came with our 1yo daughter and didn’t even arrive until after 6pm, but were able to catch the parade at the very end of the route. Cute and creative floats, low on tackiness, great for kids, and everyone participating seemed to be having a great time. Would go again!