‘Red, White and Blue in 2022’

Pacific Palisades Celebrates Fourth of July Parade

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

Often dubbed the “best day of the year in Pacific Palisades,” community members gathered for the 74th annual Fourth of July parade on Monday, July 4.

Thousands lined up along Via De La Paz, Sunset Boulevard and Toyopa Drive for the festivities, presented by Palisades Americanism Parade Association with a theme of “Red, White and Blue in 2022.”

The parade featured Palisadian Jennifer Garner, who served as this year’s grand marshal, Parade Marshal Joe Almaraz, local organizations and many familiar faces from around town.

The girls, boys and Cubs of Troop 223 waved hello from three different boats turned into floats, followed by families from Kehillat Israel, Palisades Lutheran Church, Chabad of Pacific Palisades, Pacific Palisades Rotary Club and Los Angeles Fire Department Station 69.

This year’s parade also featured Theatre Palisades Youth, the Optimist Club of Pacific Palisades, Palisades Studio, Technology for You, Palisades-Malibu YMCA, students of Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center and plenty more. Parties and parade observers cheered as the groups passed by.

The Pacific Palisades Community Council 2021 Citizen of the Year Chris Spitz and Golden Sparkplug Award recipient Krishna Thangavelu rode together in the parade in celebration of their accomplishments.

“It was a great honor to be able to ride in the parade as Citizen of the Year with Golden Sparkplug awardee Krishna Thangavelu and past PPCC Vice-Chair David Kaplan,” Spitz said to the Palisadian-Post. “I’ve ridden or marched in several past parades, and it’s always fun, but this year was special. Seeing so many people along the parade route cheering us on was amazing, and the WWII squadron flyover at the tail-end was thrilling. I can’t thank all the parade volunteers enough for making the Fourth truly the best day in the Palisades.”

“I’ve always loved our July Fourth Parade,” Thangavelu added. “I’m proud of the work Citizen of the Year Chris Spitz and other committed citizens did to protect our parks and beaches.”

Local environmental organization Resilient Palisades marched for the second time since being founded with the theme “Water is Life: Save Water.”

“The tow car was covered with native California plants that use 85% less water than thirsty lawns, then we showed a Palisadian asleep in a lawn chair wasting water on his lawn,” Resilient Palisades Co-Founder Ryan Craig said to the Post. “Behind that, we placed a farm trough with cows drinking water … Then at the back we placed a bathtub where a vegan male model was taking a short shower.

“The message: take shorter showers. The rear of the float featured this sign: ‘No water was wasted in building this float.’”

Lou Kamer engineered and led the building of the team’s float, and FormLA contributed the native plants.

“They put a lot of time and energy in sourcing and donating the right native plants to help spread the word about the powerful role natives can play in greatly reducing our community’s outdoor water use,” member Sheda Morshed said.

Other parade highlights included music from the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Band, The Palisades Oom PaPa Band and the Pasadena Scots.

Community members shared some of their favorite moments with the Post, including Paws N‘ Claws’ Patriotic Pups of Pacific Palisades annual march in the parade and Sven the Palisades Goat.