SANTA CRUZ -- It rained on the parade.
Hundreds of waving children and raindrops met the annual holiday parade that marched up Pacific Avenue on Saturday morning. However, the drizzle didn't dampen the spirits of the Santa hat-wearing crowd gathered to see fire trucks, classic cars, dance troupes and Mr. Claus himself.
"We just put our hoods up," said Marle Walkuski of Felton. She and kids -- Dewey, 7, Camille, 5, Kahlo, 7, and Johna, 4 -- sat on the curb near the top of Pacific Avenue to watch the parade go by.
The holiday event, organized by the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz, drew about 50 parade entries, including a half-dozen woodies decorated with tinsel and wreaths puttered along, a librarian drill team pushed red book carts up the pavement, and groups of kids riding unicycles and walking on stilts shook hands with their parade-watching peers.
"It was an incredible parade. As they say in the Olympics, 'it was the best one ever,'" said Keith Holtaway, head of the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz.
A horse-drawn carriage carrying Santa brought up the end of the hour-long show.
"It was really good," said Kahlo Walkuski, who loved the rendition of "Feliz Navidad" by immersion program students and the gymnasts bounding up the street, in part because she knew children involved with both groups. She also liked getting candy and other treats, like Mardi Gras beads and leis, but added "it's just fun to wave."
And like many downtown Santa Cruz events, the holiday parade was not without moments of political demonstration.
Members of the Santa Cruz Peace Association sang anti-wars songs as they walked along, and "Stop the Spray" signs protesting last month's aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth were attached to some street light poles.
"That was a guerrilla sign group that worked through the night," said Bonnie Keet, who didn't claim responsibility for the posters, though she was with a people distributing information about the spray from a table set up on Pacific Avenue near Cooper Street. Passers-by collected magnets, stickers and handouts while being serenading with a new holiday carol: "Spray is Falling Over Santa Cruz," sung to the tune of "Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire."
Contact Jennifer Squires at jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com.