Who Pays for Los Altos' 50th Festival of Lights Parade
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
The floats that roll down State Street on the Sunday after Thanksgiving belong to the Los Altos Festival of Lights Association, an all-volunteer nonprofit that runs on grants and donations. The City adds police, infrastructure and waste management. Building, repairing and renovating the floats and costumes is paid for by private donations alone.
That split sets the terms for this year. The association is calling Sunday, November 29, 2026 the 50th Los Altos Festival of Lights Parade, a count that runs from the first parade in 1977, and it starts at 6 p.m. at First and State streets. The anniversary has its own appeal, "Celebrate 50 Years, Give $50," because the money behind the event comes from the same community that lines the sidewalks to watch it.
The parade began as a merchants' idea. The Los Altos Town Crier's 2024 history credits three downtown merchants, Hope Higbee, Marion Jackston and Jack Huston, plus friends Bob Grimm, Ed Hilton and Ted Johnston. The first parade ran in 1977. Ken Haukom worked for the City's Department of Public Works then and helped set up that first parade. He told the Town Crier he got word "about folks who want to have a small parade on Thanksgiving evening," and he remembered about four or five push-floats built by volunteers.
Several handoffs turned a merchants' parade into a community one:
The City Council later designated the parade a Heritage Event. That status brings the police, infrastructure and waste management services the Town Crier says organizers could not manage without. The floats themselves were never handed over to the City, and the warehouse arrangement shows the division of labor. The City provides the storage space and the street. Whatever rolls out of that warehouse, the association has to pay to maintain.
The parade is free to watch, but it costs money to stage. In 2024, longtime organizer Nancy Schneider told the Town Crier, "Through contributions and grants we raise the almost $45,000 it costs to put on this free event for the community." According to the same report, the association spends the months before each parade planning it and raising money for repairs and for refurbishing floats and costumes.
In 2024 that budget covered 62 entries, including eight marching bands and 23 floats. A new float based on "Alice in Wonderland" joined the lineup that year. The first parade had four or five floats. The parade still runs under the association's standing theme, "A Child's Holiday Fantasy." Its entry guidelines ask for child-centered, imaginative, well-lit entries, and they note that many of the association's own floats are professionally built.
Labor is the other half of the budget, and nobody is paid for it. Schneider told the Town Crier that more than 125 behind-the-scenes volunteers make the parade happen. They haul floats to staging, repair lights, maintain costumes, dress and make up the characters, line up the entrants, and push or drive the floats along the route. By the 2025 parade, co-president Nora Haley counted more than 150 volunteers on parade night alone, as the Town Crier reported in its 2025 recap.
Some of those volunteers come from the founders' families. Maridee Huston-Charlton, Jack Huston's daughter, played a toy soldier in the first parade while she was a student at Foothill College. She told the Town Crier that she and her sister Robin have both served on the board, after their mother Bobbie recruited them into the costume group. Her husband, Bruce, has been a toy soldier for about 20 years. Haukom spent nearly 40 years behind the scenes. He told the paper he was always too busy to watch the parade roll down Main and State, and he hoped to see it from the curb now.
The association has kept quiet about anniversary specifics. After the 49th parade last year, Haley told the Town Crier that "the community can look for some truly special touches throughout the parade!"
The anniversary appeal is the clearest public sign of what the milestone means to organizers. The $50 for 50 donation page suggests a $50 gift toward the annual downtown parade. The association's $50 for 50 page notes that the donation page is managed by the Los Altos/Mountain View Community Foundation. The association's FAQ says float and costume work is paid for by private donations alone.
Volunteering is the other way in. The association's volunteer page lists these roles:
With the parade on November 29, the float-maintenance work parties have only a few Saturdays left this season.
The route starts at First and State, runs down State to Main, crosses First, continues down Whitney, and finishes across Third. The association posts estimated times for each stretch:
| Estimated time | Where the parade is |
|---|---|
| 6:00 p.m. | Parade begins at First and State |
| 6:20 to 6:30 p.m. | First floats reach First and Main |
| 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. | First floats reach the end of the route |
| 7:20 to 7:45 p.m. | Final floats reach the end of the route |
The timing explains the association's advice on where to stand. Its FAQ recommends Whitney, near the end of the route, for a less crowded view. Floats reach Whitney well after the opening crowd has gathered at First and State, so spectators there wait a little longer for more room.
A few logistics shape the afternoon. The downtown triangle bounded by San Antonio Road, Edith Avenue and First Street closes to traffic at 4 p.m. on parade day, and so does downtown access from Foothill Expressway at Main. The association's viewing guidelines prohibit reserving public viewing space before noon on parade day and ask spectators to stay on sidewalks or at intersections, out of the roadway. Blankets are welcome. Tape, chalk, ropes and chairs that block the sidewalk are not. Last year's parade was livestreamed through KMVT, and the association's KMVT page is the place to check for this year's broadcast.
Snow Queen and her court near the front, Santa at the end: the Town Crier's 2022 coverage described that order, and it has long defined the parade. Haley told the paper that Santa drew the loudest response from children in 2025.
The Los Altos Village Association ran the parade in its early years and now runs most of the downtown holiday calendar around it. Its 2026 dates bracket parade weekend:
Of these dates, the parade is the only one run by a separate volunteer association, with its own warehouse of floats and a budget raised from donors. It steps off at 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, at First and State.
Bob Kamangar has lived and worked in the Los Altos community for decades, and he is glad to share what he knows about downtown, its traditions and the people who keep them going. If you have questions about Los Altos this season, Bob Kamangar would enjoy hearing from you. Let's Connect.
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