Thousands line El Paseo in Palm Desert for 50th annual golf cart parade
Thousands of people gathered along El Paseo Sunday to take in the sights and sounds of the 50th Annual Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade.
Glitter, Palm Trees, and sunshines were just some of the decorations on the more than 100 golf carts that took part in the event. Among them, News Channel 3/CBS Local 2 golf carts too. First started in the 1960’s, organizers say this year’s turnout was the biggest yet.
“It’s just grown and grown and grown. Our first entries were probably like 15 to 20 carts. Today, we have 112. At that time spectators were also just a couple hundred versus now 20-to-25,000 people,” said Mike Hardin, Chairman of the Golf Cart Parade Committee.
It only seemed fitting the parade would take us back in time with this year’s theme ‘Palm Desert on Parade – Through the Decades ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and Present Day’ – chronicling how the parade has evolved over the past 50 years.
“We thought it would give everybody a chance who have kept some relics in their garages and stuff to get them out and show them off to,” Hardin said.
A Back to the Future decorated golf cart had pictures that showed Palm Desert through the years. Also, part of the city’s history herself, former Mayor and City Councilwoman Jean Benson, who became the city’s first female council member in 1973. She served as the parade’s Grand Marshall.
“Well, I was just sitting here reminiscing in my own mind of the golf cart parade when it first started, and when we used to have them in July and everybody was suffering with the heat,” Benson said.
The reason organizers a few years later moved the parade to take place in the fall. People certainly enjoyed a gorgeous and comfortable October day, including Palm Desert resident David Jameson. A valley native, he grew up watching the parade and now brings his own daughter to the event.
“It’s awesome, I actually work in the golf cart industry with Western Golf Carts, so I see a lot of our golf carts out here, and its fun,” Jameson said.
One of the parade’s highlights this year, USC’s marching band along with the university’s mascot.
Barbara deBoom, President and CEO of the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce says they strive each year to make the parade a memorable one for the entire community.
“It’s just been fine tuned every year,” she said, “Our staff here at the chamber, we’ve all been together for 8 years working on this and its all come together and a lot changes and things that we’ve been able to bring in from other places,” deBoom said.
