- It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Bakersfield as the annual parade approaches.
- The Bakersfield Police Department is cracking down following last year’s DUI crash.
- 23ABC neighborhood reporter Avery Elowitt spoke with local businesses about the parade’s impact, especially with parking restrictions.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Bakersfield Christmas Parade draws in large crowds to downtown Bakersfield each year.
While spreading the holiday spirit, the parade also brings a boost to local businesses– such as Dagny’s Coffee Company.
“We always have a line out the door, sometimes even like down the road a little bit. And it’s kind of just constant action, constant orders, and we’re just going back there like making all sorts of drinks and food,” said Casey Hoover, a baker at Dagny’s.
She hopes for similar results on Thursday.
But last year, things took a dark turn following the DUI crash.
“We’re just hoping that there’s gonna be like a higher level of security this year, just since everyone’s kind of you know still healing from everything that happened last year,” said Hoover.
The Bakersfield Police Department says they’re going all in this year.
“In ensuring the safety of our community and making sure everybody can have fun, we wanna make sure we check every possible box and make sure anything that happens we have the ability to respond to,” said Eric Celedon with the Bakersfield Police Department.
He says there will be upwards of 50 to 60 uniform personnel.
On top of that, a ‘no parking’ perimeter starts hours before the parade.
“That’s being used as an additional measure to ensure there are no vehicles within our perimeter to mitigate any other vehicles that are in there,” said Celedon.
These parking restrictions may come at a cost to local businesses.
But Solie Baltazar, owner of Plants for your Solie, says it’s worth the community’s safety.
“I know it’s making it a lot difficult for people to be able to get in here and out of here, but I think it’s really important that the BPD does what they need to do to make sure everybody’s safe,” said Solie.
She adds that these parking limits just means a bit more walking.
“Our patrons are really amazing. They’ll walk blocks just to get here,” said Baltazar. “So I think for the parade, they’ll definitely make that sacrifice.”
The no parking perimeter starts on Thursday at 1pm and ends at 11pm.
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