The Fiesta Bowl Parade will march along the streets of downtown Phoenix for the 50th time on Saturday, Dec. 17, with a healthy representation of Scottsdale in the form of bands and other entertainment.
The parade, with over 3,000 performers, will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Bethany Home Road and Central Avenue and reflect some exciting changes by the new leadership team planning the event.
“It’s going to be a fun year because we have a group at the office that it’s their first year being involved,” said Ben Smith, who is serving his first year as the parade chair. “We’ve had lots of new, fresh ideas from the team across the board and it’s going to be seen from the experience side.”
Smith, who has worked on the parade committee for 18 years, equates the parade to a “live version of Tik-Tok.”
“As someone that’s been involved in it for so long, I have contemplated what is it that keeps a parade like this relevant and it comes down to not (being) the same every year,” said Smith.
“We do have different balloons; we’re going to be highlighting some stuff that’s been in storage for the past 20 years and it’s always going to be a fun new and exciting experience where these kids that are used to getting instant gratification staring at their phones are going to get that without staring at that screen.”
Since the Fiesta Bowl Parade touts itself as the largest balloon parade in the west, Smith says this year could see some fan-favorite balloons from years past piercing the sky as marchers strut down the streets of downtown Phoenix.
Smith teased that the parade’s lead sponsor, VRBO, will break out a surprise balloon that has been in storage for nearly two decades and Donate Life Below could break out a gargantuan cactus that will scrape the sky.
Adding to the festivities, marching bands from around the state –including Desert Canyon Middle School and Saguaro and Coronado High School – reminded Smith, a Coronado High alumnus, of his favorite event as a child.
“Growing up as a kid before I got into high school, my friends and I would go watch the parade and it inspired a love for music amongst me and a lot of my friends, who ended up playing in some of those bands that marched in the parade,” Smith said.
Though Smith said that he hopes the parade will spark the same affinity for music as it did for him, he also hopes that kids find joy in the cast of characters representing the Marvel and DC comic pantheons as well as the Star Wars franchise.
“For the kids, I hope that what they get out of that is it’s just a passion for the community to get excited about the opportunity they get to see the characters that they see on TV and in movies,” Smith said.
The parade will also feature longtime play-by-play commentator for the Phoenix Suns Al McCoy, the grand marshal; Scottsdale-based lawyers Lerner & Rowe, who are the presenting sponsors; and an abundance of performers riding in cars, on floats and on horseback past an expected audience of over 200,000 plus patrons.
“I’ve been involved in a parade for 18 years and although I haven’t seen the parade for that long,” Smith said, “it’s really exciting for me to be a part of that and to be able to give that to the community.”
If You Go:
Fiesta Bowl Parade
When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17
Where: Central Phoenix, N. Central Avenue and Montebello Avenue, Phoenix.
Cost: Free.
Info: fiestabowl.org
