The procession featured a new route due to ongoing construction on the El Camino Real Project

ATASCADERO — The high-temperature — over 100 degrees — heat that hit Atascadero on Saturday, Oct. 5, didn’t keep local residents from hitting the streets to enjoy the 50th Annual Colony Days Parade, which started at 10 a.m. The theme this year was “50 Years of Fabulous Floats,” and chairs were lined up and filled up around the parade’s new route due to ongoing construction on the El Camino Real Downtown Safety and Parking Enhancements Project (ECR Project). The new route started on Lewis Avenue behind City Hall and traveled down to Highway 41, then south to El Camino Real and then returned with floats traveling along West Mall.

“The construction was a bit of a challenge, but I think we all made it work. The City of Atascadero was very helpful in accommodating the parade, and we are grateful for their partnership,” stated Liz Enriquez-Phillips, parade chair of Colony Days. “A big thanks to Public Works, APD (Atascadero Police Department), and Avila Traffic and Safety for all their assistance in keeping the parade safe and fun for all.”

Enriquez-Phillips went on to say that Colony Days will be having a survey very soon that will be shared with the community to ask if they enjoyed this year’s route or would prefer to go back to the traditional route next year. The survey will also ask if the parade should be moved to the third Saturday in October or if it should remain on the first Saturday like in years past.

Like every year prior, the parade was led by this year’s Colony Days Royalty, featuring Don and Janey Giessinger as this year’s King and Queen and Karen McNamara as the 2024 Grand Marshal. 

Even with the new route and the heat, local businesses, organizations, and the like leaned into the theme of this year’s parade and delivered. Making the whole event a feast for the eyes, which led to later finding out who had won the parade competition.

“We had some amazing floats this year,” added Enriquez-Phillips. “Honestly, some really good ones were entered, and you could see all the work and details that were put into them.” 

The 2024 major parade winners included the Maggie Vandergon Sweepstakes Award going to Escuela del Rio, Best Theme going to Atascadero Community Church, and the Judges Award going to Salinas River Ranch. There were also nine other categories, with our very own Atascadero News coming in second for Commercial Float.

After the parade was concluded, the crowd headed to Sunken Gardens for some doggone good times, watching both the weiner and small dog races and the dog costume contest.

And then Tent City, which takes parade viewers back in time to the start of Atascadero, was back for the second year since 2019.

“All things considered, it was better than last year. We [Tent City] were glad to be there,” said Dianne Greenaway of the Colony Days Entertainment Committee. “We had, I think, more exhibits than we had had in the past.”

Greenaway also said that this year, there were people involved in bringing Tent City to life that had never been a part of it before. That included Ray Tavakoli of Huckleberry’s, who ran a diner in the heart of Tent City.

“People got to order food, and they had a little seating area with tables all under the tent, and that was actually reallynice to have that,” added Greenaway.

This year, several nonprofits helped out with the entirety of the Colony Days celebrations. The Christian Motorcycle Association helped set up Tent City on Friday, and Grizzly Academy showed up to disassemble Tent City on Sunday morning.

“This was a huge help for our all-volunteer committee,” stated Enriquez-Phillips. “We are grateful for all the volunteers, sponsors, business members, and fellow nonprofits who came together to make our community’s event happen.”

The committee has already announced next year’s Colony Days Parade theme, “Road to Atascadero: Butterfly Drive.” The theme highlights the city’s connection to Atascadero State Beach, now known as Morro Strand State Beach, and our love of driving to the coast. It also references the fact that the road from Atascadero to the beach used to be called Butterfly Drive. 

The date for the 2025 Colony Days Parade will be released after survey results have been tallied. 

Featured Image: (From left) 2024 Grand Marshal Karen McNamara, Colony Days Kent Kenny, King Don Giessinger, and Queen Janey Giessinger led the 50th Annual Colony Days Parade. Photos by Rick Evans/ATN