Cold weather and warm doughnuts — just two early memories from Richmond’s Christmas parade that Chesterfield resident Jennifer Williams will always cherish.
“We would get up super early so we could get a really great spot along Broad Street,” says Williams. “I remember that people walked up and down the street selling those warm doughnuts. Even as cold as it was, those doughnuts made it feel warm.”
For Williams, the annual holiday parade, which has gone through several iterations over time, isn’t just a childhood memory, it’s a tradition she has continued with her three children, who are now adults.
In the 1980s, Williams started going to the parade with her parents when she was a child. She remembers always looking for the ACCA Shriners mini-cars and trikes that would zoom by in a zig-zag fashion during the parade. She also adored watching the dancing Shriner who would pass by strutting his stuff and swinging his sword. “It was a huge highlight for me,” she says.
From ages 5 through 9, Williams also got to be an insider in the parade when she performed baton twirling with the Virginia Batonettes. “We were wearing leotards, and it was really cold, but it was so exciting. You felt like a superstar, seeing all the people you knew on the sidelines,” Williams says. “As an adult, when I saw them go by me with their director, Jean Campbell, it brought back all those memories of when I was doing it. I would tell my husband and kids that I used to be a part of that troupe.”
Williams’s memories span decades, but they’re also part of a much longer Richmond tradition. Through changing sponsors, organizers, routes, and generations of spectators, the city’s Christmas parade has remained a fixture of the holiday season even as it’s evolved considerably since its earliest days.
A Richmond Tradition Begins
The parade’s history dates back to 1930 when Thalhimers, the legendary Richmond department store, advertised its “Street Parade of Toys” in the newspaper. Thalhimers employees built floats, made costumes, and orchestrated the event until 1942 when it paused during World War II.
The parade resumed in 1946 under a new name: the Thalhimers’ Toy Parade, which it remained until 1974 when Thalhimers stopped hosting the parade.
After an 11-year hiatus, the Richmond Jaycees, a local civic group, resurrected the parade with Best Products as the sponsor. “We were a growing organization, and we were looking for new projects that would be community-focused, challenging, and fun to do,” says Robert Kelly, who was a former member of the Jaycees and is now president of Richmond Parade Inc., the nonprofit that organizes the Christmas parade.
Kelly started volunteering with the parade that first year. “I love this event because it is so family-oriented,” says Kelly, who has a prized copy of the parade’s 1985 poster in his home office.
When the Jaycees started heading the parade, Kelly recalls, it was on a shoestring budget. “We had to count on local businesses,” he says. The Jaycees’ first parade consisted of all locally constructed floats from companies in the Richmond region along with about a dozen high school bands, baton twirlers, and of course, Santa.
“The parade didn’t have as many units the first year because we were just starting out and we didn’t have the financial resources or corporate sponsors to pay for professionally built floats,” Kelly says, noting the crowds were also much smaller then than they are today.
The Richmond Jaycees ran the parade until Ukrop’s Supermarket took over the responsibility in 1992 and continued as the title sponsor until the company was sold in 2009. “Ukrop’s has a long history in the parade,” says Daniel Riddick, director of marketing for Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods.
In the 1990s, with Ukrop’s as the main sponsor, the parade added floats and more helium balloons. “That was a big step. It put the parade up two to three levels,” Kelly says, noting the balloons in the parade are now a tradition even though the price of helium has increased.
Ukrop’s has remained a prominent sponsor of the parade and has featured its vehicles and products in the event every year. “We love the connection to the community, and we love handing out our iconic Rainbow cookies and White House rolls,” says Riddick. “Being part of this community tradition means everything to us. It’s the foundation of our brand and embodies the very meaning of our company purpose: nourishing families and communities.”
Riddick recalls a story from Bobby Ukrop about his 90-year-old antique pickup truck and a relentless oil leak. Ukrop worried the truck would break down along the parade route. That year, his 11-year-old and 5-year-old granddaughters and their friend were helping hand out the White House rolls to kids along the route. Luckily, the truck made it through the parade, but the engine finally gave out as it was being loaded onto the trailer after the parade.
“That’s when the two men and three girls pushed and rocked until the truck was placed into the right position on the trailer,” Ukrop says. “As the girls and I walked back to our car, we noticed numerous parade volunteers cleaning up and picking up trash around the Science Museum. Most notably, but not surprisingly, we bumped into parade leader Robert Kelly who was cheerfully filling up his trash bag.”
For Kelly, “being a volunteer is a labor of love,” says Tara Daudani, executive director of the nonprofit Richmond Parade Inc. “He is hugely responsible for keeping this tradition alive in our city. He puts a lot of care into the parade and cares deeply about making this event happen.”
Kelly took over the responsibility of running the parade in 2008 while he was a Jaycee and an employee at Dominion Energy. Then, in 2010, Dominion Energy stepped up as the title sponsor of the parade, establishing the Dominion Energy Christmas Parade we know today. “I ran the Christmas parade for many years while working full time at Dominion. I was determined not to see the parade go away,” says Kelly.
Today, the parade draws up to 100,000 people with a television audience of up to 70,000, according to Kelly. WTVR CBS 6, the official television station of the parade, televises it live and repeats the telecast on Christmas Day.
Williams has seen the parade change and grow over the years, and it is still a family tradition to this day. “I’ve always enjoyed all the groups that come together and participate,” she says.
She’s attended the parade every year since the age of 5 except for the year her daughter’s high school football team made it to the state championship. She and her family have even stuck out the parade during bad weather and watch the telecast version every year. “I absolutely love Christmas, and I love the parade,” Williams says.
Behind the Scenes of the Parade
Putting on a parade that draws tens of thousands of spectators each year requires its own set of traditions and plenty of people behind the scenes.
Daudani now serves as director of the parade after two years as production manager. Normally not a morning person, she changes her routine on the first Saturday of December every year. She wakes up in the wee hours of the morning with a smile on her face. “I meet the volunteers early and drive around in the golf cart, making sure everything is set,” she says.
There are 10 divisions in the parade with a division captain for each. “The captains make sure everyone is on time,” Daudani says. “I am on a walkie-talkie keeping an eye on everything and helping make decisions. We have about 100 units that we have to stage and get in formation.”
One of Daudani’s jobs is communicating with the 100-plus volunteers that help ensure the parade runs smoothly. “A lot of these volunteers have been serving for decades. They are a huge key to making this parade happen,” she says.
But no matter how carefully organizers prepare, putting a parade of that size through the streets of Richmond can bring surprises.
Daudani remembers the first year she served as parade captain. She was at the Science Museum of Virginia and overheard someone say a water main broke. She took her golf cart along the parade route and saw water spewing 20 feet into the air. “I certainly didn’t intend to have a water feature in the parade,” she says.
Thankfully, she got in touch with the Richmond Police and the Richmond Department of Public Utilities and the water was shut off right before the parade started. “Luckily, the temperatures had gone up so we didn’t have an ice geyser,” says Daudani. “At first, I thought we would have to reroute the parade at the last minute. Safety is our number one priority. We couldn’t have people walking or driving if there was a sheet of ice.”
Each year, Daudani and her team strive to make the parade better. “We want to make it entertaining and bring joy to everyone,” she says.
A New Route for an Old Tradition
That willingness to evolve will be particularly visible this year, when the parade changes course.
This year, the 43rd annual parade will take a different route through the city for the first time since the 1980s, placing Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR) at the very beginning. The parade will step off Saturday, December 5, beginning at the intersection of 10th Street and Marshall Street and travel south along 10th Street, passing the Children’s Tower and Pavilion before turning right onto Broad Street and continuing west through downtown to Allen Avenue.
This new route builds on last year’s route extension that took the parade past CHoR, allowing the children and families in the hospital to experience the sights and sounds of the parade. “We’re immensely excited about the new route and the joy it will bring to patients and team members at our children’s hospital,” says Elias Neujahr, CHoR president. “We’re grateful to Richmond Parade Inc. and all its partners for making us the starting point of this beloved winter tradition. It’s an extraordinary gift to be part of a community that so deeply cares for our children.”
Last year, parade organizers adjusted the route after a fan asked about considering extending the route. “We thought it was a great idea and worked with CHoR, the Richmond Police Department, and our other stakeholders including ColonialWeb, who sponsored the extension, to make it happen,” says Daudani. “We were only three blocks from the hospital and loved the idea of including the kids and families there. It brought such joy that we decided to make it a permanent part of our route.”
This year’s parade, like its predecessors, consists of a mix of professional and local floats, helium balloons, marching bands, specialty units, and the last, most important unit — Legendary Santa. “He closes us out,” says Daudani, noting that other popular annual units include the ACCA Shriners mini-cars and the VCU Peppas band.
The parade’s grand marshals have ranged from last year’s Clifford and Friends to local Olympic gold and silver medalist Charlie Swanson; from the Grinch to Richmond locals NFL player Willie Lanier, actor Chad Coleman, and American Idol finalist Rayvon Owen. The 2026 grand marshal is set to be announced in mid-November.
“We try to do a mix of characters and local celebrities,” says Daudani, noting that in 1990 Paul Simon, Steve Martin, and Chevy Chase took over the parade to film the music video for Paul Simon’s song “Proof.”
Generations of Memories
Despite the changes in sponsors, floats, organizers, and routes over the years, the parade has adapted while preserving what people love about it. Daudani does her best to keep a focus on the Richmond community and how it can be celebrated in the parade. “We don’t want it to seem out of touch with Richmond,” she says.
Many people whom Daudani talks to remember watching the parade. “They have core memories of the parade, and I think that’s pretty special,” she says.
For Kelly, volunteering for the parade is part of the whole experience. “My paycheck is seeing all the smiling children and families along the parade route. It’s an event Richmond loves. It’s really a family tradition. It really is.”
That definitely holds true for Williams and her family. Decades after bundling up to watch the parade with her parents and braving the cold as a baton twirler, she has watched her own children grow up with the same tradition.
“The parade kicks off the Christmas season,” she says. “It brings back the magic and memories of how excited my kids were to see the parade when they were little. It brings me so much joy.”
