Pacific Grove Butterfly Parade throughout the years
The Pacific Grove Butterfly Parade is one of the many traditions that lead people to call Pacific Grove “America’s Last Hometown.” It’s so legendary in the area that there’s actually a statue dedicated to it:
Butterfly kids by tsallam
These two historic photos, from around 1947, show how far back the tradition goes.
Both photos from Briguy 75
Recently, historic footage of the Butterfly Parade has turned up on YouTube. Step in a time machine back to 1976, full of butterflies, majorettes, marching bands and the occasional UFO costume. (Longtime Pagrovians may even spot themselves in this film!)
This film, from 1977, shows a number of robot costumes, in keeping with the release of Star Wars that summer.
In this video from 2009, you’ll see that even though the big floats have gone away, the cute children, marching bands and small-town feel have stayed the same.
This year’s Butterfly Parade takes place on October 2. Don’t miss this slice of Americana walking down “Main Street, U.S.A.”!
1 comment
That was fantastic!!! Thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. I started at David Avenue school in 1978, and marched in the Butterfly Parade every year thereafter. I live back in PG now and both my daughters attend Forest Grove. I love it that my girls are marching in the same parade that my brothers and I did when we were children. Thank you for putting together this incredible article! I’m going to share a link on the PGHS Class of 1990 Facebook page. Also, I’m wondering if the author would be willing to guest post this article on my blog? I’d love to share the Butterfly Parade with my readers all over the world and give them a little taste of PG. Jenn/Rook No. 17
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