A Christmas Parade

For ten years, Liverpool, one of Mexico's major department store chains, has sponsored a Christmas parade in Mexico City.  It is called "Bolofest", named after Bolo, a white bear that is the Christmas emblem of the store's toy department.  The parade features a number of large balloons and obviously draws its inspiration from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

"Bolofest" was held last Saturday afternoon, and Alejandro and I attended. It was the first time that either one of us had been to the parade.  We arrived along Paseo de la Reforma and took our place across the street from the headquarters of the Mexican Stock Exchange.  There was already a large crowd, even on the sunny side of the boulevard.

  

While we waited for the parade to begin, there were people dressed as elves who were making balloon animals to give to the children.

The parade began with a giant balloon of Bolo.

The balloons were mostly of cartoon characters that the children all recognized.

There were numerous marching bands, but most of them were between numbers as they passed us.

The floats were advertisements for toy companies or for the latest Disney movies.

Of course, the parade ended with the arrival of Santa Claus.

Alejandro overheard several adults saying that the parade was not nearly as good as in past years.  However, the children certainly seemed to have a good time.  It was fun, although it is not an event we would return to year after year.