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Self-propelled floats in Tulsa Christmas Parade

Posted at 5:50 PM, Dec 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-08 12:50:53-05

TULSA -- This year's Christmas Parade in Tulsa is this Saturday. 

The theme is  "A Storybook Christmas" and all of the floats will be centered around the stories we love during the holidays.

Parade director Jessica Gullo said there will be floats with a Whoville theme, Charlie Brown Christmas, Laura Ingles Wilder and the Polar Express to name a few. 

She has been researching the parade's history and even wrote a book about it. She wants to bring back old traditions this year. 

Gullo found when the parade was in the afternoon, the attendance was much higher and it was easier on families. 

That is what the organizers are hoping for this year. That is why the parade is at 2 p.m.

"When you look at the pictures of the parade from the 50s and 60s, in a two-mile area there was over 250,000 people," Gullo said. "You can imagine what that looked like. It was incredible and it looked like a Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade." 

In the spirit of bringing back old traditions, Gullo said there will be self-propelled floats in the parade. 

"Probably in about the 70s and 80s, Tulsa had some self-propelled floats, so we haven't seen them in quite a while," Gullo said. 

A self-propelled float means there will not be a truck pulling it along the route. The driver will be sitting inside the float steering it. 

"Our engineer, Wade McCoy, this year decided let's do it again," Gullo said. "He got a bunch of cars and cut them all up and made little engines and stuff and we built the floats around them."  

In this year's parade, 2 Works for You will be rolling down the street in a Whoville themed float. 

The cockpit is an old Pontiac painted pink. There are screens inside the float so the driver can monitor what is going on around them. 

Organizers think the self-propelled floats are really going to enhance the experience. 

"You don't have a big truck hauling the float," Gullo said. "You can have the driver dressed up in a little costume as part of the design. The driver of Whoville will be dressed up as a Who resident, so it just creates the magical effect of just a big magical scene floating down the street." 

Click here to see the parade route. 

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