Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade Set for Nov. 21 (ICYMI)

New to this year’s 18th annual Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade is a chance for families to take selfies with a 10-foot tall turkey, along with Christmas and Hanukkah decorations set up in Veterans Plaza.

The Thanksgiving parade will take place this Saturday, Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. It steps off from Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring and proceeds south on Georgia Avenue, ending at Silver Spring Avenue.

The parade features live performance excerpts of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” and the Disney version of “Peter Pan,” and over 100 units.

Emcees ABC7/WJLA Meteorologist Brian Van De Graaff and ABC7/WJLA’s Julie Wright, seen on “Good Morning Washington” and “Let’s Talk Live,” will introduce glittering floats; a 12-foot inflatable turkey, the Montgomery County Recreation T-Recs 12-foot dinosaur, a huge penguin; a variety of high school, college, and professional marching bands; beauty queens; clowns; fire engines; and performing dog and rescue animal groups.

As always, the parade will culminate with Santa’s float playing holiday music and featuring the smiling, rosy-cheeked elf, sharing his candy canes.

The parade will be held rain or shine. For more information, call240.777.0311or visit www.silverspringdowntown.com.

Holiday Selfies

New this year on Veterans Plaza is a place to take your family holiday photos. Right next to the ice rink, you can take your photo with “Frozen’s” inflatable Elsa, a 10-foot tall turkey, or with Hanukkah or Christmas décor. All parade selfies marked with the hashtag #MoCoThanksParade will be broadcast on the jumbotron at Ellsworth and Fenton on the parade route.

Volunteering

The Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade is always looking for volunteers to be elves and pilgrims on floats, reindeer and penguins in the parade, or to lead balloons. The parade needs volunteers, aged 13 and older, to dress up in costume and ride on the floats, to act as unit leaders, and to be inflatable and balloon handlers.

The hours for volunteers are from 7:30am to 1:30pm(volunteers need to be present the whole time) on Saturday, November 21. Volunteers meet at the Silver Spring Civic Building at One Veterans Place at Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street.

Parking Information

The northbound lanes of Georgia Avenue, from East-West Highway to Colesville Road will close at 7 a.m. and re-open at the conclusion of the parade, about 1 p.m.

Free parking will be available in the public garages including the Wayne Avenue Garage, the Sligo Avenue Garage, the Cameron Street Garage, and the Bonifant Street Garage next to Metro. The Ellsworth Town Center garage is CLOSED that day. Parade goers are encouraged to take the Metro/Red Line to the Silver Spring station, just west of Georgia Ave., across from the Discovery building.

The Town Center public parking garage at Ellsworth Drive will close at 2 a.m. Saturday morning to accommodate the parade.

Broadcast live at 10am on NewsChannel 8, the parade will be aired again several times on Thanksgiving Day.

»Photo of Montgomery County Thanksgiving Day parade, courtesy of Ken Stanek