Christmas City of The North Parade
Each November on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Northland's NewsCenter puts on a parade in downtown Duluth called the "Christmas City of the North Parade". It is broadcast live on KBJR and streamed live on its website. In recent years, the parade also has been replayed numerous times on the networks of Northland's NewsCenter in the weeks and days before Christmas. According to this station, the parade dates back to 1958 when KBJR (then WDSM) started the event as a way to kick off the holiday shopping season in the area. However, it does not seem to have any evidence to corroborate that starting date. Articles and the station's own ads in the Duluth News Tribune over the years indicate that 1961 was the actual date of the first parade.
It has been held every year since except in 1963 when the event was canceled following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the early 1960s, the station commissioned Merv Griffin to produce a song especially for the parade. The "Christmas City Song" has been used for the parade every year and also has been the closing music for all Northland's NewsCenter newscasts from Thanksgiving until Christmas. In 2006, Barbara Reyelts, Mark Mallory, Michelle Lee, and Pat Kelly anchored the parade. 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of the parade. It was hosted by Michelle Lee, George Kessler, and Barbara Reyelts. The pacer car was driven by Shannon Murphy, Dave Anderson, and Kevin Jacobsen.
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