Out and About

Raleigh Christmas Parade kicks off holiday season

Thousands lined the street Saturday morning to kick of the holiday season with the 72nd annual WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade, presented by Shop Local Raleigh.

Posted 2016-11-17T20:23:29+00:00 - Updated 2018-07-13T17:44:56+00:00

2016 Raleigh Christmas Parade, presented by Shop Local Raleigh

Thousands lined the street Saturday morning to kick off the holiday season with the 72nd annual WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade, presented by Shop Local Raleigh.

The event annually ranks as one of the largest parades on the East Coast, and more than 65,000 people were expected to come out for the show.

Thousands more watched from home on WRAL.com and in the WRAL News app for mobile devices, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. The parade began at 10 a.m. and was hosted by WRAL anchors Bill Leslie and Renee Chou. Traffic reporter Brian Shrader provided street-level reports.

The parade featured 115 entries, including marching bands, festive floats, giant balloons, animals, entertainers, specialty vehicles, plus special holiday surprises.

The parade will be replayed on television on Christmas Eve at noon on WRAL2 and on Christmas Day at noon on WRAL-TV.