Without a live Raleigh Christmas parade this year, here’s how to watch a virtual version
The Raleigh Christmas parade, one of the city’s longest-running traditions, won’t be on the streets of downtown this year. But a parade style event will be broadcast virtually.
Parade organizer Shop Local Raleigh and broadcast partner ABC11 announced in the summer that this year’s parade, scheduled for Saturday, would be virtual. While there won’t be floats and bands in person, Shop Local Raleigh executive director Jennifer Martin said they will still aim to tap into the holiday spirit with assembled clips.
“This is an event our community looks forward to all year and has a lot of tradition,” Martin said. “We had to get creative to do this safely and keep that same magic in the parade. I’m personally sad we won’t be on the street seeing it live, but it’s such an incredible parade. It’s that one thing every year that brings so many kids and families together. That’s the magic of the parade.”
This is the fourth year the Raleigh Christmas Parade has been broadcast on ABC11.
“We are proud broadcast partners with Shop Local and it brings us joy to be able to serve the community by continuing the tradition of the parade via our broadcast and streaming platforms,” said Rob Elmore, president and general manager of ABC11/WTVD-TV Raleigh Durham in a news release. “We encourage families who are out of town and can’t be together to join the parade festivities by downloading the ABC11 news app. They can host virtual family viewing parties and stream the entire celebration together in the safety of their homes.”
How to watch
A virtual parade means you won’t have to get up at 4 a.m. for a front-row seat on Fayetteville Street, as the 76th annual Raleigh Christmas parade is beamed into the living room.
The Raleigh Christmas Parade will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday on ABC11 and can also be streamed on www.abc11.com and ABC11’s connected TV apps on Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.
It will reair on Christmas morning.
Like past years, the parade will last about two hours.
What’s different this year
Martin said all of the content is new. Parade organizers have been filming clips and performances since September to put together this year’s show.
There are 75 entries in the parade, including musical acts Meghan Trainor, Train and DCapella.
“We had to think very creatively this year,” Martin said. “But we’ve been able to get some new acts we might not in typical years. We wouldn’t have a Train coming in normal years.”
Martin said canceling the parade was never considered.
“Christmas isn’t canceled,” Martin said. “There are still positive things happening this year. We want to remind people of that and thank people for supporting our local business community.”
In speaking to business owners, Martin said every one has been hit hard by the pandemic. She said she’s encouraging shoppers to think local when they’re looking for gifts.
“When you shop local, you support local and more of that money stays in this community,” Martin said. “We want to keep these traditions alive, so we’re asking people to please support small businesses.”
The parade’s broadcast will include local marching bands and civic groups, performances from dance companies and horse trainers. Martin said that for some groups this is their only performance of the year.
“We got to know the performers a little better this year,” Martin said. “Usually we don’t get that feeling until we look down the street and see people’s faces. We got to see it a little earlier this year and hear people’s stories and see what this parade means to them. We got to experience something we haven’t gotten before.”
For the families used to arriving in the early morning hours each year, grabbing coffee and doughnuts and sitting under blankets, Martin said to keep that up even for a virtual parade.
“Create a tradition that will only be for this year,” Martin said. “We’ll create these new memories with each other and look back on 2020 and remember that year. Take pictures on your couch or in your jammies and share those on social media.”
Tree lighting
Saturday’s Christmas parade is not the only holiday event to go virtual this year.
Raleigh’s annual tree lighting will be held Friday, Nov. 20 at 5:45 p.m., also on ABC11. Raleigh mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin will light the tree in a pre-recorded video in front of the Duke Energy Center for Performing Arts.
An alternate parade broadcast
WRAL will also broadcast a parade this year, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. The station will air a Christmas special, blending historic footage with new live performances.
WRAL will also broadcast the lighting of the Lucky Strike tower on Durham’s American Tobacco Campus on Dec. 1.
For years, WRAL held the broadcast rights to the Raleigh Christmas parade before ABC11 won them in 2017. Since then, WRAL has still aired its own parade coverage each year.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 5:03 PM.
