On Sunday, November 29, the Los Altos Festival of Lights Parade leaves First and State at 6 p.m. for what its organizers call the 50th parade. Watching is free, as it always has been. Putting it on is not. In 2024, longtime organizer Nancy Schneider told the Los Altos Town Crier that it takes "almost $45,000" to stage it, raised "through contributions and grants."
Every lit float on State Street that night was built, repaired or refurbished with private donations. Fifty years in, the parade still depends on that money arriving every year.
Free to Watch, Funded by Donors
The City of Los Altos covers part of the cost. The City Council made the parade a Heritage Event, so the City provides police, infrastructure and waste management. The Town Crier described those as services the organizers "could not do without."
Everything you see moving down the street is paid for separately. The parade's FAQ page says the construction, repair and renovation of all floats and costumes "are funded solely by private donations."
Here is how the costs divide:
- The City, through Heritage Event status: police, infrastructure and waste management
- Private donors and grants: float construction, float repair, costume upkeep and the association's yearly operating costs
- Volunteers: the labor, from moving floats to the staging area to pushing them along the route
The Los Altos Festival of Lights Association plans each parade over the year before it. That includes raising the money to stage it and to repair and refurbish floats and costumes. The Town Crier's 2025 preview said the same thing. City services and police support come with Heritage status, and donations and grants cover costumes and floats.
From Push-Floats on Thanksgiving Evening to a Warehouse Downtown
The parade began much smaller. Ken Haukom was working for the City's Department of Public Works in 1977 when he heard "about folks who want to have a small parade on Thanksgiving evening." He told the Town Crier that he remembered four or five push-floats built by volunteers.
Three downtown merchants started it: Hope Higbee, Marion Jackston and Jack Huston, joined by friends Bob Grimm, Ed Hilton and Ted Johnston. Huston's daughter, Maridee Huston-Charlton, marched as a toy soldier in that first parade.
The Los Altos Village Association ran the parade for a few years. In 1981, community members formed the all-volunteer Los Altos Festival of Lights Association to take it over. The parade later moved to the Sunday night after Thanksgiving. Early floats were kept in volunteers' garages until 1992, when a warehouse opened in the City's corporation yard and the large floats got year-round storage.
That warehouse matters because the parade reuses its floats. Each one is an asset kept up year after year. Haukom began volunteering in the mid-1980s and left the board after nearly 40 years. He told the paper he had always been too busy behind the scenes to watch the floats roll down Main and State.
The parade has gone dark twice. It was rained out in 2019 and canceled in 2020 because of COVID restrictions. The "50th" counts years since 1977, which is how the association and the Los Altos Community Foundation describe it: "50 years of lighting up our community."
What the Money Buys: A Cast That Returns
Since the parade reuses its floats, its fundraising keeps a familiar cast in working order and adds new pieces over time. The Town Crier called the theme, "A Child's Holiday Fantasy," the parade's perennial theme in 2021, and it was the theme again in 2025.
The parade has grown over the last few years:
| Year | Entries | Floats | Bands | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | 21 | 8 | Town Crier |
| 2024 | 62 | 23 | 8 | Town Crier |
| 2025 | 60 | 24 | 10 | Town Crier |
New pieces get added to that base. In 2021, the parade introduced a new Santa float and "The Shredders," a float whose characters, lights and music were run by new control technology. Two board members oversaw its construction, which was completed with local high schoolers. A donation paid to bring the same technology to the rest of the floats over the following years. An "Alice in Wonderland" float joined in 2024. In 2025 the circus train got Bertha, an animated dragon.
The order of the parade stays the same. Last year the Town Crier reported that the Stuart Highlander Pipe Band, joined by the Santa Clara Sheriffs and Macintosh band of Marin, opened with bagpipes. The Snow Queen and the toy soldiers followed, and every toy soldier had marched for 15 years or more. Santa and his reindeer closed the parade, "as always."
The people return too. In 2024, Schneider said the parade took more than 125 volunteers behind the scenes. They move floats to staging, repair lights, maintain costumes, do makeup, manage the entrants, and push or drive the floats. The entry process favors continuity as well. Applications were due October 1, space is limited, and the entry page says returning entries get priority.
Where the Glow-Saber Money Goes
One of the parade's main fundraisers happens at the curb. The FAQ says novelty sales are "one of the parade's biggest fundraisers." The association partners with local volunteer service groups to sell glowing sabers and necklaces, and 100% of the profits go back to the parade.
To make sure a purchase supports the parade, the same page says to buy from volunteers or tables showing the official "Festival of Lights Volunteer" lanyard.
Entries bring in some money as well. The parade rules set a $750 fee for commercial entities, restrict commercial advertising, and ban throwing or handing out items along the route.
For the anniversary, the Los Altos Community Foundation is running the "Celebrate 50 Years, Give $50" campaign through its Festival of Lights Parade Fund, which supports the parade every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Volunteer sign-ups are linked from the parade's homepage.
Parade Night, Sunday, November 29
The parade starts at First and State, goes down State to Main, then across First, down Whitney Avenue and across Third. That is the route the Town Crier printed in 2024. The association posts estimated times:
| 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 parade end |
| 7:20 to 7:45 p.m. | Final floats reach the parade end |
The association's posted rules for parade day:
- Roads close at 4 p.m. The downtown triangle, bordered by San Antonio Road, Edith Avenue and First Street, closes then. Access into downtown from Foothill Expressway at Main Street closes too.
- Nothing goes down to hold a spot before noon. The viewing guidelines ban chalk and adhesive tape, items in planting areas, and anything that blocks sidewalks or wheelchair ramps. Viewing is from sidewalks and intersections only, with none in front of the parklets.
- Bring a blanket. The FAQ recommends blankets over ropes and chairs, which can block the sidewalk and become tripping hazards.
- Whitney Street is the least crowded. It sits toward the end of the route, and the association says it often has the best views, even for late arrivals.
- Clear your spot by 10 p.m. Anything left after that is taken to Lost and Found at the Maintenance Service Center, 707 Fremont Road.
Accessible parking is in Plaza North, between Third and Fourth streets, entered from Edith at Third. The parking page warns not to cross Main Street.
Check the forecast that morning. If rain is likely, the association will post on its website and social media by noon whether the parade will go on. A canceled parade has no rain date. If you plan to stay home, KMTV streamed last year's parade live on Channel 15.
Downtown has holiday events on either side of the parade. The Los Altos Village Association holds its 23rd Holiday Stroll on Friday, November 13, from 5 to 9 p.m. Los Altos Stage Company's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat runs at 97 Hillview Avenue from November 27 through December 20. The Holiday Tree Celebration takes place at Veterans Community Plaza on Friday, December 4.
The toy soldiers, the Snow Queen and Santa's reindeer will be back on State Street on November 29 because donors and volunteers keep the floats lit. If you are deciding when to sell, buy or remodel and want advice from people who follow this town closely, the Kiersten Ligeti & Patricia Karoubi Team would be glad to talk with you. Book an Appointment, and we will start with the downtown you know.
