November 20, 2018 • EPE Related News
Sun Bowl parade a labor of love for volunteers
It’s a tradition of more than 80 years in El Paso – the annual Sun Bowl parade on Thanksgiving Day.
And for hundreds of volunteers who work to put it together, it’s a family affair.
Volunteers with the Sun Bowl Association build four of the 18 floats for the parade. They make part of the nearly 100 entries.
“It’s such a great community event that we take pride in being a part of,” said Joe Daubach, special events director for the Sun Bowl Association who oversees the parade.
Daubach and a team of volunteers spend countless hours in an East El Paso warehouse starting every July until parade day to put together the floats.
“We start with a base of steel from old cars and build up as our imaginations let us,” Daubach said as he stood in the warehouse beside a giant headless turkey made of plaster and paper maché (the head was being built in another section of the warehouse.)
Jerry and Kim Stephenson know the warehouse all to well. The couple has been volunteering for 10 years, starting as a service project for their kids’ middle school assignment.
“We were hooked,” Kim Stephenson said, adding that they enjoy the work, the family atmosphere and the creativity that goes into each float and the entire parade.
“To see families enjoy it is our greatest reward,” she added.
The parade was first organized by the El Paso Downtown Lions Club in 1935, and for a few years was held on New Year’s Day. It was moved to Thanksgiving in 1978.
The parade draws crowds of more than 250,000 spectators annually – making it the largest community event in the region.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s FirstLight Federal Credit Union Sun Bowl Parade:
When: 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 22.
Grand Marshal: WWE Superstar and El Pasoan Sin Cara
Theme: Amazing Feats
Review stand: 1600 Montana (Emergence Health Network)
Share this Article
