Thousands attend Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – Thousand of people gathered in Downtown Palm Springs for the 33rd annual Festival of Lights Parade. It's a highly anticipated event many Coachella Valley locals said they look forward to each year.

"We get here at six in the morning every year, setting up food, everything, and just kind of add people as they come in," Rebecca Mendez said.

"We've been coming to this spot for ten years," Charlton Quinn said. "And I used to work in this building, so it was just kind of convenient."

"We bring food with us and about 20 guests, and we just enjoy,” Kevin Bowers said.

For many Valley locals, the parade has become a tradition. They arrive early in the morning to secure their curbside seats, prepare food for the evening and watch the parade go by.

Mendez said the parade has been a special tradition each year for her family. Over 25 years, they've expanded their parade attendee group to between 30 to 40 people – bringing in extended family members and coworkers.

"We actually started this 25 years ago. My father started a tradition. He passed away in 2020," Mendez said. "So we kind of decided to keep the tradition alive for him...It's meant a lot. Gets emotional sometimes, but it's a great tradition. We have my nephews and his grandkids, so now we're just keeping it going as time goes on.”

The parade was also an emotion time for one organizer group with the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Palm Springs. Officials said they found out they were accepted as a float in the parade on November 25th, just one week in advance.

But as they had to cancel their upcoming Our Lady of Guadalupe Pilgrimage walk due to ongoing immigration enforcement and concerns there would be low participation. Officials say hearing they were able to be a part of the parade was beyond meaningful.

"What does that mean? My heart. Our heart," Desi Gonzalez said. "[Attendee's are] going to be happy to see her in the street walking in between us. And I feel happy... I want to cry, but yeah, I feel so happy.”

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear more from organizers and attendees on what the parade means to them.