The World’s Shortest Parade has come a long, long way! Discover the past on

history of the Aptos Parade

by John Hibble The World’s Shortest Parade Has Come a Long Way!

In 1961, much to the horror of local citizens, a zoning change was proposed that would have allowed a cement batching plant to be built in the center of Aptos Village. Locals rose up against the proposal. Concerned women such as Lucille Aldrich, Anne Isaacs, Babe Toney and others formed the “Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society” and organized themselves to defeat the zoning change. Their efforts were successful, and after their victory, a barbecue was held on Memorial Day in celebration. The event was so popular that a parade and pot luck 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. Anumber of visitors stopped to view the parade when the “Sun Tan Special”, the train that once transported visitors from the San Francisco peninsula to Santa Cruz, passed through Aptos Village and stopped for the parade. “It was a happy coincidence that the parade coincided with the train passing through”, recalled Lucile Aldrich.

Later that year, when the Southern Pacific Rail Road tried to close the crossing in front of the Bayview Hotel, the Aptos Ladies’ Tuesday Evening Society again took action and, dressed in Victorian clothes, invited the press and laid themselves down upon the rail road tracks. Eventually, the court decided the Southern Pacific could not close off the right-of-way, and the Ladies were again victorious. This second victory provided the impetus for continuing the parade.

Watermelon Feed After the 1st Parade.

Originally, the parade route was from the Driftwood Gas Station at Trout Gulch Road (better known as the now defunct Terrible Herbst) to the Pop Inn restaurant (Britannia Arms) and back to the Bayview Hotel. It lasted less than ten minutes. Soon, food booths were set up to help raise money for Mar Vista School and ears of corn were sold. Children’s’ games and contests were added including a cow milking contest. The pancake breakfast was added in 1987, and is a cooperative venture between the Aptos Chamber of Commerce and the Aptos Lions Club.

In 1992, after thirty years of successful 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.

Parade Founder Lucile Aldrich & Friends.

Just about everybody participated in the first parade.

Potato sack racing in Aptos Village Park after the parade.

The ‘World’s Shortest Parade’didn’t start as a parade at all, but as a 4th of July picnic.