The Festival of Lights Parade Association (FOLPA) board of directors has announced that a new float, Alice in Wonderland, will debut in this year’s Festival of Lights Parade. The parade is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 1 in downtown Los Altos.
The float will feature the infamous Mad Hatter’s hat, complete with a tea party setting, and perhaps a visit from a certain Cheshire Cat. A year in the planning and production, float construction is under the direction of Christine Edwards, a professional set designer with ties to numerous Bay Area theater companies. Edwards has worked with the FOLPA Board before as she was responsible for the major refurbishment of the Santa sleigh float in 2020.
“We are pleased to add a float that depicts the famous tea party setting in Alice in Wonderland,” said FOLPA Board Member Nancy Schneider. “It’s a wonderful fit with the parade’s theme of a Child’s Holiday Fantasy. And our group of beautiful handmade Alice costumes, including Alice herself, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, as well as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, are very popular with parade attendees of all ages. It’s an ideal fit for the parade.”
The float is a zero emissions entry in the parade, and will boast a preponderance of lights. Float music and lights’ operations are fully electronic.
“There are a lot of factors to take into account when producing a new float: height, width and weight. Any of our volunteers who have pushed a parade float up Main Street can attest to the very real incline on that street! Our volunteers have worked since January of this year with the designer to make sure this float meets our standard of excellence for our floats, and they have exceeded the “light test”: this will be one of the brightest push floats in the parade,” according to Schneider. “We might need to have our volunteers who will be pushing the float wear sunglasses!”
“Speaking of volunteers: we do need additional volunteers to help produce this year’s parade,” Schneider continued. “We are very flexible with respect to our volunteers’ time. It’s fun and an exciting way to see the parade. We’d love to see our neighbors out here, joining us in producing this beloved Los Altos institution.”
To learn more about volunteering for the parade, visit losaltosparade.org/volunteer-details.
