Media Resources

This page is reserved for members of the media who need resources for reporting on the Alameda Mayor's Forth of July Parade. All materials on this page are copyrighted, and available to the media only.

Background information:

The Alameda 4th of July Parade is one of the largest and longest Independence Day parade in the nation. With over 170 floats and 2,500 participants who travel a three mile route, the parade has become the central activity of the Bay Area's Fourth of July weekend.

The parade boasts the longest route in the United States, drawing over 20,000 spectators from the region. Parade entries cross the full spectrum of Bay Area residents includes:

• Equestrians
• Dance troops
• Floats and antique cars
• A large variety of bands

Many community members host front yard barbeques where their friends and family come together to watch the Parade. It is a tradition for many families to return to the same spot along the Parade route to celebrate the Fourth of July year after year.

The Mayor’s 4th of July Parade was voted the “Best Hometown Celebration” for 2007 and "Best Hometown Parade" for 2008 by the East Bay Express. They proclaimed the parade “…a bit of Kansas right here in the East Bay.”

• Best of the East Bay - Home Grown
• Best of the East Bay - Hometown Parade

BEST HOMETOWN PARADE 2008 Alameda Fourth of July Parade

"Everybody loves a parade, and Alameda's annual Mayor's Fourth of July extravaganza — always on July 4, no matter what the day, natch — attracts some 20,000 spectators, or roughly one-third of the city's population. Everyone and then some are there to wave flags and witness color guards, marching bands, baton twirlers, classic cars, horses, politicians, veterans, and floats, floats, floats. The parade route is longer than three miles, allowing the city to claim it as the longest parade procession ever, which no one bothers to challenge. Families and friends lucky enough to live on the parade route host barbecues as the spectacle winds past, while others from Alameda and throughout the Bay Area contentedly nab spots along coveted stretches of Park Street, Grand, Central and Otis for optimal viewing. This event epitomizes Americana at its finest and is the best hometown parade going in the East Bay, no question. Makes you proud to be an American."

Contacts:

Chairperson
Barbara Price
510-263-9399
Email

This year's parade

PSAs:

	Quick Review	Full File
Television: 29 seconds	QuickTime MOV file, low-rez (1.5MB)	HD 720p (AVI) formatted, 106MB HD 720p (WMV) formatted, 37MB H.264 720p (MOV) formatted, 158MB (right click on file and select "Save Target As ...")
Radio: 29 seconds		MP3 file, 0.5MB WAV file, 10MB RAW file, 8MB

Last year's parade

THEME: The Power of Alameda

Alameda is an amazing and powerful place. Called Silicon Island for its high tech businesses, home of a Coast Guard city (only one of fourteen in the nation) and bustling with a growing music scene, Alameda is high powered and constantly advancing.

Tied-in with this year's theme is the 125th anniversary of Alameda Municipal Power (AMP). One of the greenest power providers in the nation, AMP has been a cornerstone of Alameda from its early carnival-city days, though the Naval Air Station decades, and into the 21st century.

Grand Marshals:

Nick Cabral — "Mayor of the West End"

Backbround

Seventy two years ago, Alameda’s “Mayor of the West End” was born on the island. He is a legacy from his grandmother who moved to Alameda after the 1906 earth quake destroyed most of San Francisco, where she had been residing. Nick Cabral is living history of Alameda, with a life woven into the city’s very fabric.

“Alameda gives you a certain feeling,” said Cabral. “It’s a community I brag about, recruit people to come here. Loving Alameda is a bit like loving a lady. You just have a wonderful feeling inside.”

Cabral’s attachment to Alameda’s civic scene started early when he was one for the first kids in Alameda’s Boy’s Club, founded in 1949. He deepened his involvement each year thereafter, participating in every aspect of Alameda community involvement Jaycees to being on the inaugural 4th of July Parade committee. To this day Cabral still has breakfast every month with friends he graduated high school with over fifty years ago.

“It is so much about families,” said Cabral. “Alameda feels like a small Midwest town, and that is why it retains families for generations. For years my wife and I had surrogate sons running through our house, kids with no fathers or something else lacking in their lives. My wife went through ten pounds of sugar a week mixing Kool-Aide. We called them our Kool-Aide Kids.”

Cabral’s activity in the community has not slowed in his retirement years. “I want to be active. And I want to be a positive influence, because the world has too much negativity. I want Alameda to keep growing and improving.”

Backbround

Nick Cabral is willing to be interviewed by the media. You can call him direct at 510-333-7246.

 

Photographs:

Thumbnails appearing here are links to higher resolution photographs.  Right-click on the photograph and select "Save target as ..." (Internet Explorer) or "Save link as ..." (Firefox).  To view the higher resolution image, simply click on it.

AMP Antiques

The 2012 parade helps celebrate Alameda Municipal Power's 125th anniversary. They provided us with two photographs from their early years. Righ-click on either to download a high-rez version.

Parade Committee

Alameda 4th of July Parade committee members (left to right, right-click to download press-ready image): 

Front Row: Dominic McKenna, Cheryl Mannix-Smith, Dan Mark, Nicole Santilena, Betty Dittmer, Sherilyn Escoto, Mark Sorensen, Jeff Cambra
Back Row: Sam Sause, Jim Franz, Jerad Kissack, Barbara Price, Michael Delucchi, Wendall Stewart

Participants

Well's Fargo Stagecoach

R.A.C.E

Photos by Ed Jay Photography

Typical Parade Entries

Marines and Colors	ROTC Rifle Squad	Zap Cars
Chaplin on Scooter	Carriage	Bagpipe Player
Marching Band Drummers	Marching Band Horns	Marching Band Flutes
Horse Ballet	Cowgirl	Cowboys
Music Float	Music Float	Kids on Bikes
Mexican Float	Antique Fire Truck

Spectators

Parade committee and dignitaries

Mayor in Carriage

2010 Parade pictures

Historical

1909
1976

Video:

We offer television stations a 720p file with b-roll footage you can use in pre-parade coverage. The files have both parade participant and crowd scenes.

MOV format	Production	2.3GB
AVI format	Production	1.4GB