How a Manassas Christmas Parade comes together

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What goes into making a great parade? The City of Manassas knows, and so do the Christmas Parade committee members who experience firsthand the love and devotion it takes to put on this popular event now in its 71st year.

This year’s 71st Annual Greater Manassas Christmas Parade is the culmination of months of preparation, years of history and teamwork, and a volunteer force that’s committed to retaining the tradition in the city.

The parade will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m., and this year’s theme is “Believe.”

Sponsoring this year are Stanley Martin, Miller Toyota, the City of Manassas, Mix 107.3 and Volunteer Prince William. Countless volunteers have been working behind the scenes since last year to create the magic this parade brings to the city.

“It’s a great committee. Most of the people on our committee have been involved for a long time,” said committee chair Mark Olson.

Olson has worked on the parade for 20 years and shared a great deal of history about the event. “It’s featured TV and movie stars over the years. They had people from the TV series Emergency. Ed Asner was there last year,” he said.

The parade also has a long-standing history of prominent, annual Grand Marshals. This year’s Grand Marshal is Manassas’ own John O. Gregory. Gregory is a WWII veteran who served in both the Navy and the Coast Guard and is a lifelong resident of Manassas. He is the founder of Gregory Construction Company, a founder of Prince William Hospital, a co-founder of Security Bank (now part of BB&T) and a leader in Lions Club International, as well as local and state-level Republican committees.

Olson shared that the parade hasn’t changed much over the years. It remains the largest parade in Northern Virginia and continues to feature civic organizations, churches, schools, marching bands, animal groups and more as it has since the beginning.

“I really think its strong point is consistency,” said Olson. “It has a real hometown feel to usher in the holiday season.”

John Martin served as the parade committee chair for 15 years and has been involved with the parade for more than 20 years. When asked about the biggest difference for him between then and now he laughed and said, “knowing what I was doing.”

“We try to keep the participants to 100 units, but weather can play a factor too,” said Martin. “The first year I participated there must have been 50,000 people there.” But he noted the weather has always played a major role in the number of attendees, as well.

Over the years, they’ve kept many of the same participants and units, but he recalled many changes in communications. The event has become more and more dependent upon electronics, he said. He also recounted the units involved over the years and noted that Bull Run Kiwanis and the Manassas Rotary Club have supported the parade throughout his involvement and well before.

“The Center for the Arts puts a wonderful float in every year,” he said.