There’s only one valid excuse for escaping food prep duty on Thanksgiving: The H-E-B Holiday Parade downtown, where procrastinators and pure partiers alike can mingle with 400,000 people as balloons, drill squads and ‘tween stars float on by. The 61-year-old parade – technically called the “Holiday Parade,” as both Tom Turkey and Santa himself make appearances – will weave through downtown from Minute Maid Park to Discovery Green, wrapping up well before the eat-a-thon begins at home. Two Disney Channel stars, Alyson Stoner and Debby Ryan, will sing and sashay along the roadways, along with the Houston Rockets dance squad, gaggles of cheerleaders, hordes of horses and this year’s grand marshals, the Pearland Little League team. Yes, it’s an overdose of cheer – but then again, this is the season. 9 a.m. Minute Maid Park, 501 Crawford. For information, call 713-654-8808 or visit www.hebparade.com. Free to $25.
Thu., Nov. 25, 9 a.m., 2010
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.