The Soddy Daisy High School Marching Band will participate in the Children's Christmas Parade in Atlanta on Saturday. The parade will be televised on the Atlanta television affiliate WSB-TV Channel 2 of Atlanta starting at 10:30 a.m. The Soddy Daisy Marching Trojans are entry #42 in the parade order.
The band was invited to participate in the parade in May by Hobie Pileski and Debbie Gilbert of Argonne Parades. The Marching Trojans will depart for Atlanta on Friday morning and return on Sunday.
With floats, giant helium-filled balloons and marching bands, the Children's Christmas Parade will be the largest holiday parade in the southeast. Along with a television audience of more than 500,000 viewers on WSB-TV, hundreds of thousands of spectators will be lined up along the streets awaiting the arrival of Santa and the official beginning of the holiday season in Atlanta.
The Children’s Christmas Parade, formerly known as the Festival of Trees Parade, began in 1981 when volunteers at the Festival of Trees decided the best way to kick-off the festival was with a holiday parade on Peachtree Street.
That first year, the volunteers put together a small processional and 3,000 people lined the streets to welcome Santa to Atlanta.
In 1984, Davison’s, in conjunction with WXIA-11 Alive, decided to co-sponsor the parade and bring it into the homes of all of Georgia. In 1985, Davison’s became Macy’s and the parade became the Macy’s-Egleston Christmas Parade. Macy’s brought helium balloons, invited award winning bands and built a sleigh for Santa.
In 1988, Egleston contracted with Blaine Kern of Mardi Gras fame to design and create enormous, animated floats adding yet another dimension to the holiday extravaganza. In 1998, Egleston Children's Health Care System and Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center officially merged to become Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the parade became the Children’s Christmas Parade.