{"id":39890,"date":"2023-12-06T15:40:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=39890"},"modified":"2023-12-06T15:41:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:41:13","slug":"2023-lakeland-christmas-parade-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/12\/06\/2023-lakeland-christmas-parade-update\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Lakeland Christmas Parade Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thursday evening for the display of the annual Christmas parade and fireworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What<\/strong>:\u00a042nd Lakeland\u00a0Christmas Parade<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>:\u00a07 p.m. Thursday, beginning with\u00a0fireworks\u00a0over Lake Mirror<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where<\/strong>:\u00a0RP Funding Center and back via downtown and a small bit of Lake Morton. Check the route map above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Route change<\/strong>:\u00a0There\u2019s a\u00a0major route change this year, with the parade bypassing Lake Mirror. After the parade route progresses along Main Street past Munn Park, it will turn right on Massachusetts Avenue, instead of left as in the past. The parade proceeds on Massachusetts to Lake Morton, where it turns right for two blocks before proceeding up Tennessee Avenue to Orange Street and back to the RP Funding Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who<\/strong>:\u00a0More than 100 units, including floats and marching bands; as many as 50,000 spectators have attended in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theme<\/strong>:\u00a0Christmas in Candy Land<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather<\/strong>:\u00a0The forecast for Thursday evening is Overcast. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.. 10% chance of rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch it live<\/strong>:\u00a0lakelandgov.net\/TV,<\/a>\u00a0Facebook Live<\/a>, Spectrum 643, FiOS 43, or Comcast Channel 5 (PGTV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chairs<\/strong>:\u00a0Spectators are\u00a0asked\u00a0to refrain from placing chairs along the route until Thursday. The city of Lakeland warns that \u201cchairs, tape, blankets and other materials used to save viewing spaces will be removed if placed in public right-of-way before the day of the parade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If placing chairs on Thursday morning or afternoon, do not block sidewalks, entrances or ADA ramps or place chairs in wheelchair accessible seating areas, or your chairs may be removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streets\/parking:  Streets along the parade route will begin closing at 3:30 p.m. Public parking is available on open, non-parade-route streets, in public lots and parking garages (map<\/a>). Tips from experienced parade-goers to avoid the inevitable traffic jams at the end of the parade:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid downtown garages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seek parking spots several blocks from the parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that you cannot cross the parade route during the event, so plan your parking accordingly if you plan to leave early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility<\/strong>:\u00a0Parking will be available for vehicles with a disabled parking permit at the city\u2019s Lot V at 161 E. Lime St., which is just east of Lake Morton Plaza. That location will also have a wheelchair-accessible parade-viewing area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Length<\/strong>:\u00a0From the time the floats get to your location, the parade typically lasts about an hour and a half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security<\/strong>:\u00a0LPD typically has 150 officers on duty at the parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic:\u00a0Lots<\/strong>. Expect delays getting home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday evening for the display of the annual Christmas parade and fireworks. What:\u00a042nd Lakeland\u00a0Christmas Parade When:\u00a07 p.m. Thursday, beginning with\u00a0fireworks\u00a0over Lake Mirror Where:\u00a0RP Funding Center and back via downtown and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[6968],"class_list":["post-39890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-2023-lakeland-christmas-parade-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}