Published in the November 21 – December 4, 2018 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Lelannie Ornelasy
Lelannie Ornelas
The holiday season in full swing, beginning with the addition of our beautiful twinkle lights, illuminating downtown. Thank you again to the city of Morgan Hill for teaming up with the Morgan Hill Downtown Association to supplement the twinkle lights.
The lights come just in time for the 2018 Annual Holiday Light Parade, which began 32 years ago to mark the start of the holiday season and is held the first Saturday of December. This is a free event for the entire family to enjoy. Different organizations from the area parade downtown with fun colorful floats, music and decorations.
The parade runs along Monterey Road from First to Fifth streets. The event begins right as the sun is setting at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 1 and consists of an hour or so of pure holiday magic. The procession — this year with 55 entrants, the most ever — ends with Santa’s Magic Ship, leading the crowd to the traditional tree lighting and a meeting with Santa Claus.
This year, the MHDA arranged for Music in Motion to provide carolers who will entertain downtown guests following the tree lighting.
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Supporters of the Edward Boss Prado Foundation at last year’s Holiday Parade through downtown Morgan Hill.
All these amazing events will be held near or in downtown, so it’s a family-fun opportunity to see the local shops and grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants.
This holiday parade is put on by the Kiwanis Club. They do wonderful services for our community throughout the year, such as hanging of flags and banners throughout downtown, maintaining and installing the holiday snowflakes, food drives, election day couriers, sponsorship and fundraisers. The Morgan Hill Kiwanis was chartered in 1952. Their motto is “Serving the Children of the World.”
The parade is truly magical. It brings our community together. Every year it seems as if more and more families attend and share in the tradition. I would like to thank all the participants and Kiwanis for making all this possible.
This is something everyone won’t want to miss!
Lelannie Ornelas has lived in Morgan Hill for 12 years and works at Gavilan College. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, volunteering, and spending time with friends and family.
