‘Jingle All The Waves’ at this year’s Ocean Beach Holiday Parade

The theme for this year’s 43rd annual Ocean Beach Holiday Parade is “Jingle All The Waves,” which kicks off Saturday, Dec. 3 at 5:05 p.m. with the lighting of the community’s Christmas tree followed by the 90-minute parade with more than 100 floats and entries.

The community pulls out all the stops each year for its holiday extravaganza. It does everything from brewing its own signature craft brew to finding and planting its own Christmas tree at the beach at the foot of Newport Avenue, to implementing its annual parade, and toy and food drives.
All of the many Yuletide events are planned and executed by OB Town Council, which also handles the annual Christmas tree selection, ensuring the chosen tree is transported to, planted in, and decorated on the beach.

Brewers from major San Diego breweries get together every year to create a collaboration holiday beer, Crooked Tree IPA, that will be served around Ocean Beach during December. The beer is named after the traditional Christmas tree in Ocean Beach that famously leans to the left no matter what.

“We’ve got all the usual suspects in terms of parade floats and entries,” said Cameron Reid of OBTC. “We’re excited to see what they come up with.”

Reid noted a crowd-pleasing float from last year entered by OB Milk Enthusiasts, is back this year for a return engagement, along with other popular local floats. “The Ocean Beach Hotel and San Diego Woodies floats are always exciting,” Reid pointed out adding, “The Friends of the OB Library will be out again this year, as well as the Point Loma High School Music Program.”

Added Reid: “It is also always good to see firefighters carrying Santa, who will be riding on their fire truck. Firefighters and lifeguards take turns carrying Santa every year. We’ve also got a lot of golf carts coming out for the parade, which is very OB and a lot of fun.”

The parade runs from Sunset Cliffs Boulevard down Newport Avenue, turning the corner at Abbot Street where entries will be reviewed by judges. Parade entries will be judged based on the following categories: Best Use of Lights, Best OB Spirit, Most Unusual, Best Kids Group, Best Performance, Best Live Music, and Best Overall.

One of the charms of OB’s annual holiday parade is that spectators can get a good view of it anywhere along Newport Avenue from Sunset Cliffs Boulevard to Veterans Plaza and around the corner down from Abbott Street to Santa Monica Avenue. To enjoy the parade as much as possible, come early and take in the day, urge OBTC and Ocean Beach MainStreet, the community’s business improvement district.

Parade grand marshals this year are Chris and Jo Peregoy, owners of Ocean Beach Business Center. “They lead the parade,” noted Reid adding OBTC, which stages the event, is an all-volunteer-run organization. He pointed out it takes over 100 volunteers to run the parade.

“It takes months of planning and preparation working with the City to make sure this parade goes smoothly,” said Reid. “We’re coming down the final stretch and we’re really excited about it.”

OBTC EVENT SCHEDULE

• Crooked Tree IPA Brewing began on Nov. 5.
• Holiday tree arrived on Nov. 29.
• Santa at the Christmas tree: Dec. 3, 10, 17.
• Holiday Parade and VIP Deck: Dec. 3.
• Holiday Auction and Party: Dec. 8.
• Food and Toy Drive: Dec. 12-16.
• Food and Toy Drive Delivery: Dec. 17.

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