The Salvation Army Cheerleaders bring tons of spirit to the WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade on Sat, Nov 20th. |
|
Slideshows:
|
Approximately 50,000 people lined the streets of downtown Raleigh for the 66th annual WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 20, 2010. Marching bands, dancers, characters from Scooby Doo to Cindy Lou Who, and much more floated through the 1.2 mile circuit.
WRAL-TV once again worked hard to bring the event home in high-definition to viewers. For those who were at the parade, the event will be rebroadcast each Saturday in December on WRAL.2 at 8:00am and then a special holiday rebroadcast on WRAL-TV at 4pm on Christmas Day.
Anchors Kelcey Carlson & Bill Leslie commentated from the scaffolding and reporter Brian Shrader sent in live interviews from the street.
:What a show!” said Carlson. “Makes me feel lucky and proud to live here in the Triangle. A great way to show off downtown Raleigh and Fayetteville Street.”
MIX 101.5 personalities & their family members ride on the WRAL-FM float. |
A myriad of WRAL-TV personalities wave to the crowd. |
A team of over two dozen technical staffers from WRAL’s engineering and news production, including those on site and back at the station, worked alongside several members of the programming crew to pull the live event together. The 2010 parade marked the 37th consecutive year that WRAL-TV aired and produced the parade.
Santa Claus is always the perfect grand finale for the parade. |
| See the WRAL.com slideshows & video from the parade here. |
Many WRAL staffers are veterans of the parade broadcast, but WRAL-TV Station Operations Director Jim Rothschild, a new employee since last November, enjoyed his inaugural WRAL parade this year.
“Seeing it for the first time, I am amazed at the strength of our partnership with Greater Raleigh Merchants Association and the special gift it has created for families throughout the community,” said Rothschild. “It’s a great event, and our team of people know how to do it right. With a little help from Mother Nature, it was a picture-perfect production.”
Another first for the 2010 parade? WRAL.com’s Santa Cam. WRAL.com aired live footage of Santa before he entered the parade. WRAL.com’s Kathy Hanrahan got an exclusive interview with the jolly ole elf.
The weather did cooperate beautifully on Saturday with enough of a chill in the air to make it feel like the holidays but not painfully cold.
The 2010 WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade is sponsored by Crabtree Valley Mall, Time Warner Cable, Nationwide Insurance, Bobby Murray Chevrolet and WakeMed.
WRAL-TV’s Richard Adkins captures the Safety Patrol with his camera for the live broadcast. |
The Cary High School Marching Band is dressed in the colors of the season. |
