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SIERRA VISTA — Fifty years after its inaugural march down Fry Boulevard, the Sierra Vista Holiday Parade is as popular as ever.
The longest running holiday parade in Arizona is doing things a little different this year, starting at night for the first time in its history, said Diane Erwin of the Greater Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the parade.
“We wanted to do something different and special,” Erwin said.
The parade kicks off at Buffalo Soldier Trail and Fry Boulevard at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, before making its way down Fry until it ends at Coronado Drive.
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As successful as the parade has become, with more than 35 floats signed up and nearly 100 participants, it’s easy to forget it never would have happened were it not for the efforts of a few determined residents who wanted to put Sierra Vista on the map.
Fifty years ago, Jim Stubbs was the co-publisher of the Gateway Times, a weekly newspaper in town. One day, he and Gaither Stepp, one of the local business owners who placed advertisements in the paper, came to a decision, the effect of which is still visible today.
“We got talking one day and we said, you know, this town needs a Christmas parade,” Stubbs said.
It was a way for the men to highlight their town.
“We thought Sierra Vista needed some public relations, and that was a good way to do it,” he said.
With that, the two men, along with several other business owners, formed the Sierra Vista Junior Chamber of Commerce to spearhead the planning.
The first parade, held in 1958, had a total of six floats and three bands, Stubbs said.
“We wanted to get something going in the town, put it on the map,” said Dick Brooks.
Along with the back room in the old bowling alley, Brooks’ former barber shop was one of the many offbeat meeting spots where the group would plan out the first few parades.
Many of the early floats were made by high school classes competing against each other.
“They’d get a flatbed truck, put chicken wire all around it, and stuff it with napkins,” Brooks said. “If they only had white napkins, they’d spray paint them. They were beautiful, and a lot of work.”
Ray Moses, another member of the group, recalled the experience of putting the parade together.
“In those days it was a fun thing,” Moses said. “We all did everything, we all worked together. I drove Santa Claus down the road, that was my thing.”
Each member was responsible for finding participants and gathering goods, like candy to toss to children along the route.
“The first couple years we threw it out on the streets for the kids, but as it got bigger and bigger, it got dangerous.” Moses said.
Eventually, children were asked to wait at a designated spot away from the main route, where the floats would stop and toss candy.
The parade was a big hit, and not just with locals.
“We had people as far as Morenci come out,” he said.
Over the course of its first few years, the parade was not without its setbacks.
“About the middle of the 1960s, it was my turn to be chairman (of the junior chamber of commerce),” Brooks said.
As chairman, Brooks was taking on the most responsibility for the parade.
“It was the first and only time it ever rained,” he said. “It rained like hell on my parade.”
David Walker worked at the Gateway Times for Stubbs during the early years of the parade. As a member of the DeMolay organization, a boys club, Walker was responsible for collecting convertible cars for people to ride in for the parade.
“Originally, we were going around borrowing all the convertibles in town,” he said.
When famous western songwriter Rex Allen was set to be grand marshal of the parade that year, they decided to get something special.
The group borrowed a brand new Ford Edsel convertible from a Bisbee dealership for Allen to ride in. The Easel’s famously poor craftsmanship did not disappoint that day, as a fire soon erupted from under the hood of the car.
“We were probably in the first three or four blocks of (the parade),” Walker said. “Smoke just started pouring out of it.” The unfamiliar design of the car did not help the situation.
“We couldn’t figure out how to open the hood,” he said. “It opened from the windshield. We didn’t have a fire extinguisher, because who would have thought a new car would catch on fire?”
Walker and others did the only thing they could and threw dirt over the engine to put out the fire.
Even such a setback did not give them pause. Allen was soon back on the road riding inside Walker’s old Willy’s Jeepster.
“Mine literally was a rag top,” he said.
It wouldn’t be the last time the Jeepster appeared. In later parades that were covered with snow, Walker and friends would clean out the vehicle during the parade by gathering the snow that had accumulated inside and toss snowballs at onlookers.
One of the side events coordinated with the Christmas parade was the Christmas dance, Stubbs said, where one lucky lady would be crowed Miss Snowball.
“I was one of the judges, and for crying out loud, I never had so much trouble from a bunch of women,” he said.
The following day, an unhappy mother of one contestant visited Stubbs at work.
“She read me the riot act,” he said. “That was the last time I was ever a judge in a beauty contest.”
The camaraderie between these men, even all these years later, is still evident when they recall their time spent organizing the early years of the parade.
“Dick Brooks and Ray Moses were an important part of the initial years,” Stubbs said. “We had a lot of fun, I’ll tell you.”
They all contributed to establishing one of the oldest traditions in the city. “Ray Moses did a lot more for putting (Sierra Vista) on the map,” Brooks said.
Moses said of Brooks, “If there’s anyone that needs a street or a road named after them, Dick Brooks does.”
Parade information
The 50th Anniversary Holiday Parade, sponsored by Cox, begins at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at the intersection of Fry Boulevard and Buffalo Soldier Trail. There also will be a chili cook-off in the Kmart parking lot earlier in the day, where visitors also will be able to bid on a children’s playhouse built for the Habitat For Humanity float.
Santa Claus also will be in town. Beginning at 10 a.m., Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be at Ace Hardware, 3756 E. Fry Blvd., handing out candy and hearing Christmas wishes. The Clauses will make their way down Fry Boulevard visiting various chamber businesses until they end up at McDonald’s at 2 p.m. when he leaves to prepare to ride atop one of the floats in the parade. People can track Santa’s movements on local Cherry Creek Radio stations.
Herald/Review reporter Derek Jordan can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at derek.jordan@svherald.com.
Mary Melton wrote on Dec 8, 2008 2:31 PM: