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

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

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 some variety ...

held in downtown

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The parade was sponsored by

Comerica Bank Comerica Incorporated is an American financial services company, headquartered in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. It is the parent of Comerica Bank, a regional commercial bank with 413 branches in the U.S. states of Texas, Michigan, California, Florida an ...

, 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. 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 List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in the Victory Park, Dallas, Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Stars of the National ...

, 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

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, 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 Cotton Bowl Classic and Heart of Dallas Bowl 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

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

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

, 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

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students from the

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in Dallas County. Former Dallas Cowboys

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Emmitt Smith was picked to be the event's first Grand Marshal in 2007. For the 2010 parade, the

Eli Young Band Eli Young Band is an American country music band from Denton, Texas. The band consists of Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (drums). They released their self-titled debut album in 2 ...

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