BY ZANDER REYES

Christmas spirit was in full gear for Covina’s biggest tradition. The 63rd annual Covina Christmas Parade was held on Dec. 7, 2015. Citizens of Covina and surrounding cities huddled up on Covina’s streets with holiday cheer, blankets, and holiday apparel to enjoy this festive occasion, which is the largest nighttime parade in San Gabriel Valley.

This annual tradition began at 6:30 p.m. on the corner of Citrus Avenue and Badillo Street, and ended at Covina High School. The mile long route was filled with cheer, twinkling lights, and music. The parade hosted more than 100 floats and presentations by local high school bands and clubs, city heroes, and the famous big jolly fellow dressed in his best red and white suit, Santa Claus. The parade is a running tradition that has lasted more than 60 years. The theme of this year’s march was “Let Freedom Ring.”

There was plenty to see, hear, and smile about. There were bike clubs with three-seat tandem bikes and bikes lit up with christmas lights, puppies in training and dressed as angels, high school bands in full uniforms playing traditional Christmas music, cheer squads motivating and entertaining the crowd, boy and girl scouts marching, dance teams dancing to holiday routines, and the Los Angeles Fire Department proudly displaying their trucks. These were just a few of the many sights and sounds that made this parade memorable event for people of all ages.

West Covina High School was represented by Team 968 RAWC, Robotics Alliance of West Covina. The club made it in the lineup as one of the floats showcasing their award winning robots. As part of the team, it was great to see a lot of people admiring our work. Especially, since there were easily over 1,500 people there. Little kids shouted, “Wow! That’s so cool!” and adults clapped and waved at us.

There was a sense of joy and happiness in our team as we walked the mile. Hopefully, we made WCHS proud and spread some holiday cheer to all.