Raleigh Christmas Parade

Each year, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, a familiar sight rolls through the streets of downtown Raleigh and WRAL-TV is there to bring you every moment of the festivities!  This November marks the 60th Annual Raleigh Christmas Parade, organized by the Raleigh Merchants Association. The 1½ mile-long parade features approximately 125 entries, including floats, local high school bands, clowns, twirlers, dancers, walking units, and of course, Santa Claus! 

The parade always begins at 10am at the corner of Hillsborough and St. Mary's Streets.  The order of march then travels east on Hillsborough, turns south at the Capitol onto Salisbury Street and ends at the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center.

Last year, approximately 150,000 people lined the parade route to see hometown favorite Clay Aiken as the parade's Grand Marshal. Over 80,000 viewers watched WRAL's live coverage from home.

WRAL-TV first broadcast the Raleigh Christmas Parade in 1974 in our new color remote truck.  And in 2000, we began broadcasting our live coverage in high definition television and continues to do so, each year.

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