Overview The Tulsa Christmas Parade is downtown Tulsa's free holiday parade, held every year on the second Saturday of December. Floats, marching bands, drill teams, dancers and giant balloons with their wrangler crews wind through the Art Deco streets of downtown for about 90 minutes, and Santa Claus closes the show. The parade goes back to the city's oil-boom days and is run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with Reasor's as title sponsor and American Waste Control as presenting sponsor. On site The route starts at Sixth Street and Detroit Avenue, runs up Boston Avenue and turns down Boulder Avenue, with a long lineup of floats, bands and balloons. A heated VIP tent sits at the starting line in front of the TV cameras, with hot cocoa, coffee and visits from Santa, and reserved bleacher sections line the route. Food trucks and vendors work the streets beforehand, and Santa's crew hands out free toys to kids along the way. Sponsors walk or ride their own parade entry, fly a branded giant balloon, name the VIP tent or take over a segment of the live broadcast. Audience Families from Tulsa and the surrounding region, from toddlers on shoulders to grandparents who have come for decades. The crowd bundles up along a one-mile route downtown, and the event is free, so it draws a broad cross-section of the metro. At home, viewers watch the live stream and the Christmas morning rebroadcast on NewsChannel 8. Talent and Influencers Each parade has a Grand Marshal drawn from Tulsa's own community, most recently local business owners and Route 66 figures. Marching bands from area public schools, dance and drill teams, costumed characters and Santa and Mrs. Claus are the performers people come to see. NewsChannel 8 KTUL hosts the broadcast. Track record The parade has been part of Tulsa's holiday season for generations and remains one of the most anticipated free events of the year downtown. Local press describes crowds in the tens of thousands along the route. NewsChannel 8 streams it live on its website, Facebook and YouTube and rebroadcasts it on Christmas morning. Brand presence Reasor's is the title sponsor and American Waste Control presents the parade. Dozens of Tulsa businesses support it, including BancFirst, Chick-fil-A, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, The Home Depot, Lamar, Warren CAT, Greenheck, Relation Insurance, 2 News Oklahoma, KXOJ and TulsaPeople. Promise Hotels is the official hotel partner. Sponsors get TV exposure during the live stream and rebroadcast, logos on the parade website and posters, social media recognition and VIP tent passes.