It took more than a little water to wash out Hanford’s Christmas spirit.

Thousands of people lined the streets for this year’s Christmas Parade through downtown Hanford. Local residents showed up in droves even despite predictions of rain, which threatened to derail the procession before it even began on Friday.

Mike Bertaina, president of the Hanford Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Hanford Christmas Parade Committee, had to make a hard decision at 4 p.m. about whether or not to cancel the festivities. A brief shower rolled through town at 3:30 p.m. bringing fears that the annual event would need to be postponed, despite people coming from all across the county to see it.

“We decided, rain or shine, we’re going to have a parade,” Bertaina said.

This year’s event marked one of the biggest Christmas parades in Hanford’s history. Bertaina said there were 115 entries this year, as opposed to past years with barely a hundred.

“This year, the entries just keep coming in one after the next,” he said. “It seems like we really got the word out there this year.” 

Families came out as early as 4:30 p.m. to mark their spots along the parade route.

“We bring our grandkids out every year,” local resident Pauline Kline said. “They really enjoy playing with the glow-sticks and seeing Santa.”

Artie Redd, a Fresno resident, said he likes to bring his kids where their mom grew up.

“We can get together for Thanksgiving at our house, then come down here to see the grandparents and the parade right after,” he said.

Seventh Street was lined with dozens of folding chairs, lawn chairs and camping chairs as people huddled together against the cold to watch the floats.

The 115 entries in this year’s parade included marching bands, fire engines, flat-bed trucks with Santa’s sleigh and a little girl waving to the crowd from on top of the Hanford Police Department’s armored SWAT vehicle.

The capstone of the event was old Saint Nick riding on a fire engine and waving to the crowd.

“We actually had six marching bands at one point,” Bertaina said with a laugh, “but a few had to pull out for different reasons.”

Past Christmas Parade’s have drawn crowds of more than 7,000 people.

But the parade was only the start of the day’s Christmas festivities.

At noon, an Amtrak train arrived in town carrying Santa Claus and his helpers. A group of roughly 200 people were waiting for him at the Hanford Amtrak Station, with kids ready to climb up on the jolly old elf’s knee to describe his or her Christmas wish.

When the man in red left to get ready for the parade, people gravitated to the Fox Theatre, where the Disney Pixar film “Up” was screened for an admission price of two canned goods.

“It was standing room only,” said Nick Jones, an employee with the Theatre’s box office. “We were filled to capacity with not a seat to spare.”

The showing drew well over 1,000 people to the downtown Hanford theater and helped raise more than 55 box-loads of canned goods, which were later donated to the Salvation Army food pantry.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(Nov. 27, 2009)