A cherished Christmas parade will return to north Sunnyvale this year following a decade-long hiatus.
The Lakewood Village’s volunteer-run Christmas Parade was once a popular annual tradition where dozens of community members would don Christmas-themed costumes and march from Lakewood Elementary School to nearby Fairwood Park.
Over the years, volunteers became deterred from hosting the event due to the intense planning and workload, leading to the parade’s disbandment in 2015. But this season, a new cohort of Lakewood neighbors are on a quest to revitalize the December event, and bring back a sense of community and holiday spirit to the neighborhood.
“A number of people in the neighborhood said they hoped to to get the parade going again,” said volunteer Rena Flovin. “Some of the neighbors volunteered to help, so we thought we’d give it a go and do it.”
This year’s parade will take place on Dec. 14 at 11 a.m. The mile-long route will once again begin at Lakewood Elementary and at Fairwood Elementary. The event is open to the public, and refreshments will be provided at nearby Fairwood Park. Sunnyvale police officers will halt traffic as the parade makes its route east along Lakehaven Drive before crossing Lawrence Expressway continuing down Sandia Avenue to the park.
Roughly 150 participants will be featured in the parade, including local Girl Scouts, carolers from Sunnyvale Christian School and the Fremont High School Marching Band. Local leaders will also be in attendance, including newly elected Assembly Member Patrick Ahrens, District 6 representative Eileen Le and Sunnyvale City Manager Tim Kirby.
The event will feature a fire engine provided by the city’s Department of Public Safety, complete with a Santa Claus and elf. Parade goers are also encouraged by the association to bring an unwrapped toy or gift card to donate to the Sunnyvale Community Services Toy Drive for local families.
The festivities are organized by the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association (LVNA), a volunteer organization that represent more than 1,600 households in Lakewood Village. The neighborhood is located north of Highway 101 in Sunnyvale, and includes a section of the Lawrence Expressway.
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Lakewood’s first holiday parade was put on by the association in 1959, but ended sometime in the 1970s for unknown reasons. LVNA volunteers brought had back the parade and other neighborhood activities in 1989.
December use to be an exciting time for Lakewood the community, Flovin said. Her children and other neighborhood kids looked forward to participating in the Christmas parade every year.
Tony Bugna, a vice president for the LVNA, said parades are a chance for neighbors to spend quality time with one another. “You always see people having a good time,” he said.
Lakewood’s parade is smaller in size compared to nearby ones, including Los Gatos’s and San Jose holiday parades, which can bring thousands of participants and onlookers. But Bugna said the LVNA and parade volunteers just want to do so something fun for the holidays.
“We want to bring a sense of community,” he said. “We want to bring people together and also raise awareness about the LVNA.”
