President’s Letter
Grand Marshals 2023
Parade Map
The “Worlds Shortest Parade Has Come a Long Way
A Look at Past Parades
Parade Sponsors
Tee Shirt Artist
Party in the Park
Parade Participation Information
We would like to thanks and express our gratitude to our Public Safety Officers for keeping our community Safe on the 4th of July and throughout the year.
Stop by after the parade for made-to-order juices, entrees ready for the grill, local & organic produce and more!
Located in the heart of Aptos Village since 2019, we are committed to community through local giving programs and thoughtfully curated food for your family.
Westside Santa Cruz • Capitola • Aptos
Publisher Patrice Edwards
Layout Design
Katharine Cameron
Design
Michael Oppenheimer
Production Coordinator
Camisa Composti
Office Manager
Cathe Race
Media Consultants
Brooke Valentine & Teri Huckobey
Photo Credits
Aptos History Museum
Michael Oppenheimer
The Aptos World’s Shortest Parade Official Program 2023 Is a publication of the Times Publishing Group, Inc. Entire contents ©2023 by Patrice Edwards. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without publisher’s written permission.
Times Publishing Group, Inc. 9601 Soquel Drive Suite A, Aptos, CA 95003
Phone: 831.688.7549
Fax: 831.688.7551
Email: sales@cyber-times.com www.tpgonlinedaily.com
Half Moon Bay • Downtown Santa Cruz
Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Aptosians! That means it is time for our famous World’s Shortest Parade where this year we celebrate the 62nd anniversary.
What a year we had here in Aptos with the unprecedented storms that led to damage to our beloved Seacliff State Beach, a visit from President Biden, and eventually, the removal of the historic pier leading to the S.S. Palo Alto.
Handling the details and visioning the future for Seacliff State Beach, are the folks from Friends of State Parks. This year we honor them as our Grand Marshals
Besides our Grand Marshals, our fun parade has classic cars, local bands, cheer and dance teams, classic tractors and a whole lot more. (you may even see a pig or a turtle walking their owner!) After the parade, head down to the Aptos Village Park for a ton of fun! lots of vendors, food and drink options, kids activities as well as live music from The Lost Boys featuring James Durbin! Don’t forget to stop by the chamber office to pick up this year’s commemorative 4th of July t-shirt featuring Birdie, one of our town’s regular dogs seen around town!
I am honored to be this year’s Aptos Chamber president. I have been blessed to have been able to raise my children Danielle and Gavin here in Aptos and be an integral part of this great community.
If you DO make it to the parade, be sure and stop by and say hi beforehand. I’ll be at the beginning directing traffic as always with the megaphone! (those that know me say it isn’t needed though) Happy 4th of July to all!
Sincerely,
President, Aptos Chamber of Commerce Director of Operations, Santa Cruz Sentinel
Steve Bennett
Aegis Living Aptos was honored as a 2023 "Best Senior Living" community by U S News!
We care for your loved one as if they were a member of our own family. Where days are filled with distinctive amenities, enriching activities, local excursions, lots of laughter, delicious food, new friends, and so much more.
Come see for yourself!
Call to take a tour and meet our compassionate team. 8 3 1 - 3 5 9 - 4 6 7 0
Established in 1976, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks (Friends) is a vital partner with California State Parks, creatively working to ensure our cherished local parks and beaches are thriving and available to all. Friends’ innovative and collaborative community partnership provides support and investment for education, equity and inclusion, conservation, facilities improvements, historic preservation and cultural events. Friends supports 34 state parks and beaches throughout Santa Cruz County and coastal San Mateo County. Friends operates a robust online ParkStore offering nature- and history-themed merchandise for sale to benefit local parks and beaches. Learn more at www.ThatsMyPark.org or on social media.
Año Nuevo State Park
Bean Hollow State Beach
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
Burleigh Murray Ranch State Park
Butano State Park
Castle Rock State Park
Castro Adobe State Historic Park
Coast Dairies State Park
Fall Creek Unit
Gazos Creek State Beach
Half Moon Bay State Beach
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Lighthouse Field State Beach
Manresa State Beach
Manresa Uplands State Beach
Montara State Beach
Natural Bridges State Beach
New Brighton State Beach
Palm State Beach
Pebble State Beach
Pescadero State Beach
Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park
Pomponio State Beach
Portola Redwoods State Park
Rancho del Oso Unit
Rio Del Mar State Beach
San Gregorio State Beach
Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park
Seabright State Beach
Seacliff State Beach
Sunset State Beach
The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park
Twin Lakes State Beach
Wilder Ranch State Park
The Fourth of July in Aptos is a big deal! The Aptos Parade is a fan favorite, people from near and far plan their day around the “World’s Shortest Parade”. Bring your chair, place it in your favorite spot along Soquel Drive (most regulars claim the same “spot” that they have sat at for years) and enjoy! There is no pancake breakfast this year but the Party in the Park is going strong! Come on down to the park and enjoy The Lost Boys (we dare you not to dance!), lots of food vendors, including Mexican, Indian, “Dippin” Dots, and much more. Start your Christmas shopping with the many craft vendors that will be there or get a little something for yourself! This year the commemorative T-shirt for is sale at Deluxe Foods, Aptos Feed and Pet Supply, and The Aptos Chamber. It is a family friendly event so make a day of it! Join us on July Fourth for the “World’s Shortest Parade,” and don’t forget your chairs! Thank you Aptos Community for making this event so great. Without your participation there would be no parade.
The 4th of July is America’s birthday, and many communities have parades to celebrate that fact. The freedom to determine our own future was at the center of the founding of our country. The “World’s Shortest Parade” in Aptos is also about self-determination but it was not originally about America’s birthday.
The Granite Rock Company, founded in 1900, has been an important part of the history of Santa Cruz County. The great construction boom in houses and highways in the late 1950s and ‘60s meant that Granite had to build new cement batching plants to supply the need for concrete throughout the region. Cement, sand, and aggregate are stored at the batching plant and mixed to order, then sent out in giant “cement mixer” trucks to the construction sites.
In 1959, the last remnants of the apple industry in Aptos Village closed down. Aptos was an industrial town with no industry. The Granite Rock Company purchased land in the Village and applied to the county for a zoning change to build a cement batching plant. That is why the street across from the Post Office is named Granite Way.
There is nothing wrong with a concrete plant but no one in Aptos Village wanted it in their back yard. Locals rose up against the proposal. Concerned women formed the “Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society” and organized themselves to defeat the zoning change. The group included Lucille Aldrich, Anne Isaacs, Babe Toney, Peggy Marceron, Jessie Elliott, Birdie Jacobs, Beverly Palmer, Nola Gales, Pat Thompson, Joyce West, Peggy Hunter, Mrs. Harrison Smith, Dee Small, Betty Jo Jensen, and Nita Jellison.
Their efforts were successful and to celebrate their victory, a barbecue was held on Memorial Day, 1961, in the field next to the railroad track. The event was so popular that a parade and potluck were planned to follow on the fourth of July.
Everyone turned out in old fashioned clothes and the Monterey Bay Antique Car Club brought 18 vintage cars. The parade route was from the Driftwood Gas Station at Trout Gulch Road (where O’Neill’s Surf Shop is now located) to the Pop Inn restaurant, (now the Parish Publick House). The parade only lasted ten minutes and that is how the “World’s Shortest Parade” got its name.
The second year, the “Sun Tan Special”, the train that once transported visitors from the San Francisco Peninsula to Santa Cruz, was in its final year of service. The Aptos Ladies had planted red, white, and blue petunias along the railroad track from the Bay View Hotel to the Pop Inn. When the train reached Aptos on July 4th, the engineer stopped the train so that the passengers could get off and enjoy the festivities. “It was a happy coincidence that the parade coincided with the train passing through”, recalled Lucile Aldrich.
Games were also held in the field including sack races, a watermelon eating contest, horseshoes, kick the can, peanut runs, shoe kicking, and foot races.
The third year, the American Legion post was the first to set up a food booth with chili, coffee, and pies. The following year, the Pop Inn offered hot dogs and soft drinks. Santa Cruz Dairy Farms wanted to sell ice cream, so Lucile asked them to bring a cow for a milking contest. They brought two cows for five or six years but eventually the herd was moved away which ended the contest. In the mid-1970s the games and food booths were moved to Aptos Village Park which had just been completed.
In 1992, after thirty years of successful parade organization, the Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society retired from the job and turned the parade over to the Aptos Chamber of Commerce. The once tiny parade has grown into a huge event for Aptos. The “World’s Shortest Parade” has gained national recognition as one of only seven Fourth of July parades recommended in 2013 as the “Best” by prestigious Condé Nast Traveler, and in 2017, our parade was listed as one of “America’s Most Unique July Fourth Celebrations” by Land’s End Journal.
The community gets to judge the parade winners. Send us photos of your favorite floats, cars, groups, pets, and bands to chamberaptos@ gmail.com.
What better way to celebrate Independence Day than either watching the parade or being in it, and finally to have lunch and dance the afternoon away, with the band “James Durbin and the Lost Boys” in Aptos Village Park? You can celebrate freedom from cooking and doing the dishes, you will have a great day and also help to support the parade that gives Aptos a little slice of fame and a big slice of “hometown” feeling. Happy Independence Day!
ACE Portables
Aegis
Allen Property Group
Aptos Chamber
Aptos Feed & Supply
Bay Federal Credit Union
Betz Work
Deluxe Foods
Kaiser Permanente
New Leaf
PAMF/Sutter
Rio Sands Hotel Safeway
Santa Cruz County Bank
Seacliff Inn Hilton
Seascape Resort
Times Publishing Group, Inc.
Erwert Creative is an independent graphic designer/illustrator specializing in: brand identity, publishing design, packaging and custom illustration services. Scott Erwert offers knockout independent Art Direction, Graphic Design and Illustration services. His professional background has touched upon virtually every realm of the design discipline: client side, inside agencies working with Fortune 500 client base, partner of a design studio, and independent contractor. Scott loves dogs and hopes the parade dogs will stop by Aptos Feed and get a treat! This dog’s name is Birdie and she is a local Bermese Mountain dog.
T-shirts are available for $20 at Deluxe Foods, Aptos Feed, and Aptos Chamber
The “World’s Shortest Parade” in Aptos began in self-determination, it was not originally about America’s birthday. In 1959, a zoning change was proposed to allow a concrete batching plant in Aptos Village. The community organized to defeat the zoning change and the first “World’s Shortest Parade” was held for the first time.
The parade route is one-half mile long, hence the name, “World’s Shortest Parade”. It begins at the intersection of State Park Drive and Soquel Drive and ends at Parade Avenue. It might be the world’s shortest parade distance wise, but our community loves it so much that it usually goes more than an hour and a half! People start setting their chairs out the night before so they can view it from their favorite spot. Some people also set up barbecues and make it a day! This year we are not going to have the pancake breakfast but the Party in the Park in going strong!
After the Parade, be sure to stop by for fun, food and games!
Get your groove on with James Durbin & the Lost Boys from 12:00pm – 4:00pm!
Party in the park will be a community celebration again this year with James Durbin and the Lost Boys playing danceable music. We will have games for children, fabulous food, and craft vendors.
Capitola Aptos Rotary will host the Beer Booth and the community will come together for another great 4th of July celebration Please come down to the park once our parade ends and continue the celebration for the 4th of July.
$5 Donation
We dare you not dance!to
★ DO NOT THROW OR HAND OUT ANYTHING ALONG PARADE ROUTE
This includes candy, fliers, balloons, etc., and is for the safety of all children who run out into the street. The child you save from injury may be your own.
★ DO NOT RETURN ALONG PARADE ROUTE UNTIL PARADE IS OVER
There are designated areas for floats and cars at the end of the parade route. Once your vehicles are parked, you are welcome to watch the parade or go down into Aptos Village Park for the afternoon activities. Please disperse from the end of the parade route promptly to help keep congestion to a minimum.
★ NO FIREWORKS OF ANY KIND
★ NO MOTORCYCLES OF ANY KIND
★ NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN PARADE OR IN THE FORMATION AREA
★ DO NOT SPRAY OR THROW WATER ALONG THE PARADE ROUTE
★ NO CARS ALLOWED ON SOQUEL DRIVE UNTIL THE HIGHWAY PATROL RE-OPENS THE ROAD TO TRAFFIC
Please be considerate of Parade Participants and Attendants! Thank you for your cooperation!
