By Chris Mac Kenzie
The Alpine Sun
     ALPINE — With ear-splitting sirens blaring, lights flashing, horns blowing, and children screaming, Santa Claus arrived in Alpine last Friday night, riding atop a fire engine and leading the Parade of Lights down Alpine Boulevard to the community center.
     Now in its tenth year, the parade began as a miniature event featuring a few lighted bicycles, little red wagons, and maybe a couple of small trucks. Now it’s a glorious, exciting affair with 40 or more entries (nobody counted ‘em) of sparkling lit trucks with trailers full of youngsters wearing red Santa hats; of golf carts, motorcycles, bicycles, jeeps, open roadsters, tractors, ORV’s, and anything else with wheels and lights make this parade a pure community interaction. Christmas music echoed from car radios and extra speakers on trailers added to the festive atmosphere.
     It all began ten years ago when Jay Harn, then editor of The Alpine Sun, Pat Cannon from the Alpine Chamber of Commerce and resident Sue Hobbs bewailed the fact that downtown Alpine was so dark and deserted in the evenings. “Let’s have a parade with Christmas lights and wind up at the community center for a tree lighting ceremony,” they all agreed.
     And so it began, growing a little more elaborate each year as it gathered supporters. The first year, it was planned for the Thanksgiving weekend. “But,” said Harn, “too many people were out of town for the holiday, so after that, we set it for the first weekend of December.” One year it rained, dampening the fun a bit but it was, and still is, a family affair with neighborhood entries outnumbering those done of organizations and clubs.
     After four or five years, Harn came up with the idea of adding a snow mountain, so that Alpine children could enjoy snow sledding. “We wanted to have people stay at the center a little longer instead of just watching the community tree lighting and going home.”
     He and Randy Rynearson arranged with the San Diego Ice Company to produce the heaping white stuff and prepare a sledding hill — a task that Rynearson has continued to take on since the Harn family moved to Northern California.
     According to the crowd along the street, this year’s parade was the best one yet and more fun to watch even than the Viejas Days event. 
     At the Alpine Community Center, Santa held court listening to his little friends tell him their wishes, awarding candy canes and posing for photos.
     Carols were provided by the Alpine Chorale and the children’s Spirit Choir from the Alpine Community Church.
The Soroptimists served hot cocoa and cookies while the Back Country Land Trust provided coffee and popcorn.
The Girl Scouts had a bake sale, and the DC Kids offered nachos. Jim Mowry manned the Kiwanis Cook Shack where burgers, hot dogs and sodas were available for hungry parade-goers.
     Still other organizations and businesses acted as sponsors, helping with donations and services that made the Parade of Lights a memorable evening for everyone.






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More than 500 residents lined Alpine Boulevard last Friday, Dec. 2 to take part in the 10th Annual Alpine Village Christmas Parade of Lights. More than 40 entries showed off the talents of both local clubs and families who clearly labored over their floats 

Children rode decorated bicycles and motorized carts and everyone enjoyed the holiday serenade by the Joan Mac Queen Middle School band. Santa made an appearance atop one of Alpine’s fire engines. After the parade finished, many people gathered at the Alpine Community Center parking lot to take part in refreshments and festivities and to take advantage of the snow hill set up behind the fire station, which offered fast and exciting rides, coordinated by local Boy Scouts (below). Santa stuck around to visit with families and pose for pictures. Christmas carols were sung by the Alpine Community Church Children’s Choir and the Alpine Chorale.
Photos by Christy Scott/The Alpine Sun