Photograph by Aaron Suozzi
Francois Herbert and 2-year-old daughter Dominique were among the hundreds of residents to line the parade route Saturday morning.
By Mike de Give
Lakewood Village neighbors celebrated the holidays in community style last weekend with their fifth annual Christmas parade.
Nearly 40 entries marched the parade route, including more than 100 children from Lakewood Elementary School. Parade entries included everything from bicycle-peddling public safety officers to a horseback-riding color guard.
"One of the highlights was the guy we had for Santa Claus," said Fred Fowler, president of the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association (who, by the way, had the honor of following the horses with a shovel and broom). "He rode on the back of a $300,000 super tow truck, donated by Great America Towing. I saw him grab a handful of candy canes, take a major-league windup and throw them into a sea of smiling faces."
Santa, behind his whiskers, bore a striking resemblance to Sunnyvale resident and local hero Richard Beardslee. This summer, Beardslee, a registered nurse, was first on the scene at an accident at Lawrence Expressway and Lakehaven, and tended to the injured while more help arrived.
Another spectacle at the community party was when the Los Gatos Horseman's Association finished the route, dismounted, and invited children to saddle up for free rides.
"They had an immediate long line of kids," Fowler said. "You never saw so many smiles."
Other parade participants were the Fremont High School marching band and color guard, Brownie Troup No. 281, the Air National Guard, American Red Cross, the National Guard Armory, the Belle Swingers, California Young World, Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation, Onizuka Air Station, the Army Reserve, Brownie Troup No. 152, Boy Scout Troup No. 444, "Captain Sewer" from the Sunnyvale Sewer District, Model A touring club, Doris Beezley as Bo Peep and a quorum of the Sunnyvale City Council.
The parade was organized by the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association and headed up by resident Nan Dorio. Fowler said the event was one of the best neighborhood parades yet.
"I think the thing that impressed me most was just how special it was for the kids. Our neighborhood has a lot of different people in it. Some of them are well off and some of them are not so well off, and it was great to see them all come together and have a good time," Fowler said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 18, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.