The Comerica Bank New Year's Parade (also known as the Cotton Bowl Parade) was an annual

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

held in downtown

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The parade was sponsored by

Comerica Bank Comerica Incorporated is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and strategically aligned by three business segments: The Commercial Bank, The Retail Bank and Wealth Management. Comerica focuses on relationships, and helpin ...

, presented by the J. Curtis Sanford Parade Committee, and benefited the Field and Mary Scovell Scholarship Foundation. It was revived in 2007 and was held each year for the AT&T

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

. An estimated 100,000 people attended the parade each year. The parade route was long, starting in the Dallas Arts District and ending at the

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas St ...

, by Victory Park. It featured about 80 different entries, including about 20 floats and various marching bands, balloons, and other such performances. The parade was followed by pep rallies in the park for each team competing in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Although the game was moved to

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the ho ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region ...

, the 2010 parade was still held in Dallas. The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau said that the New Year's Day parade was important to the local economy because it increased the number of people shopping, dining, and staying in hotels during the end of the holiday season. The 2010 edition of the Comerica Bank New Year's Parade was the final parade to be held. It has not been held since that time, although both the

and

Heart of Dallas Bowl The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 has been contested in late December. The bowl was held at the Cot ...

events are still being played, with the Heart of Dallas Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium and the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.

History

The parade was originally televised on CBS until 1992, when the network decided to stop, and as a result, the event was canceled. The parade was then revived in 2007, when Comerica, which had recently moved its headquarters from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

to Dallas, announced its title sponsorship of the event. Originally held on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

, the parade started with approximately 60 different entries, but later expanded. All of the parades were organized by the J. Curtis Sanford Parade Committee, a non-profit organization named for J. Curtis Sanford, who founded the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1937 with his own money. In 2008, the "Comerica Bank Vote for the Float" was announced. The program allowed spectators and television viewers to vote for floats designed by

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

students from the

Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas ( USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in ...

in Dallas County. Former Dallas Cowboys

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

Emmitt Smith was picked to be the event's first

Grand Marshal Grand marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "marshal" with the first usage of the term "grand marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. The following ...

in 2007. For the 2010 parade, the

Eli Young Band Eli Young Band is an American country music band composed of members who met while students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas: Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (dru ...

was chosen to be the parade's Grand Marshal. The 2009 Grand Marshal was Betty Sanford, the widow of J. Curtis Sanford. She was chosen because it was the last year the Cotton Bowl Classic would be held in Dallas.

References

External links

Official parade website
{{New Year New Year celebrations New Year's television specials Parades in the United States