Crowds gather early for SLO Christmas parade

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Big crowds are gathering in San Luis Obispo for tonight’s holiday parade.

Santa’s House opened at Mission Plaza at 1:00 pm Friday to welcome visitors for the 28th holiday parade.

Downtown slo businesses were ready with deals and decorations in place.

“We have a buy local bonus program going on the holiday in the plaza, the Christmas parade, all of these events,” says Donna King, parking program manager for the city of San Luis Obispo.

Locals set up seats to secure a spot for the show.

“This is our first time. I'll probably just park far away and walk with our kids and try to get our spot. We’ll see,” says Haley Thompson, who lives in San Luis Obispo.

Families set up chairs in downtown SLO to secure their spot for Friday’s parade as early as 7a-m, nearly 12 hours before it began.

“The weather's amazing, so that makes the holidays really fun and just all the fun things that SLO does, like Santa and the parade, and it's all super fun,” says Thompson.

“We really want to encourage our locals and visitors to come down and enjoy the free parking and shop and visit downtown,” says King.

Six blocks in downtown were blocked off with road closures between Marsh and Walnut street.

“And the free holiday parking includes every Sunday in December, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day,” says King.