Doo Dah Parade Back ‘By Popular Demand’ in Old Pasadena, Will It Recapture Its Former Feel?

Pasadena’s other parade returns to Old Pasadena this year.

After 13 years in East Pasadena, the Doo Dah Parade is back to its original route on the west side this Sunday.

According to Patty Hurley, managing director of the Parade’s organizer, Light Bringer Project, the parade was moved to the east side in 2010 because Old Pasadena changed.

Paradegoers looked around the route and saw Corporate America emerging.

“It had not been redone with the big box stores and, yes, Cheesecake Factory — not to point anyone out necessarily — but the place had changed. People were wanting it back to a small town feel,” Hurley said. “So we found the neighborhood of East Pasadena, [which] still was Colorado Boulevard, but a different location. It was a shady treeline, small business street. So we did that.”

Hurley said the parade outgrew that location and needed more space. Hurley said some of the higher floats would not fit anymore on the street on the east side.

“Just like when we moved to East Pasadena, there was a collection of people in East Pasadena that were saying, come over here. Come over here. So now we have a collection of people in Old Town Pasadena saying, come back to Old Pasadena, come back.”

The parade was born in Old Pasadena in 1978 long before Old Pasadena was a destination location.

Known as the twisted sister of the iconic Tournament of Roses Parade, the first Doo Dah Parade was actually on New Year’s Day in 1978 – a Sunday, which worked out because the traditional Rose Parade couldn’t be held until the next day, Jan. 2, due to the never on a Sunday Rule prohibiting the parade from being held on Sunday.

But a group of people at a local tavern thought it would be fun to have an alternate parade on New Year’s Day and the Doo Dah Parade was born. The satirical take on the Rose Parade is a revered local tradition that has been duplicated in other cities, including Columbus, Ohio, Ocean City, New Jersey, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The last time the parade was held in person was in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the organizers decided to cancel the actual parade and instead held virtual equivalents because of COVID-19.

The parade will travel down Raymond Avenue and across Colorado Boulevard towards Pasadena Avenue.

“The slogan that’s been going out is, ‘Back by popular demand,’ and I think that’s the case,” said Tom Coston, chair of the Light Bringer Project. “Everybody has been talking to us about coming back, and we’ve decided it was time to bring it back to Old Pasadena.”