Seaside Christmas Parade

How many of you have heard of The Truman Show. It was a movie produced in 1998 that starred Jim Carrey. In the movie, Truman Burbank worked in a quaint little town that looked perfect. Well, in real life, his work area was filmed in Seaside, Florida and that is where Mama Nomad and I were this year to experience the Seaside Christmas Parade.

Seaside is on 30A between Santa Rosa Beach and Panama City Beach. It is a small, unincorporated town with a great little plaza that has restaurants, food trucks, a small post office and stores.

Although the town is small in population, it seems to draw quite a few people when events occur. And with minimal parking options, finding a spot can be problematic. So, what we did was to drive through Seaside and head north on County Road 395. About 1.5 miles from the plaza, there is a Publix grocery store. We parked there and walked back to the parade.

From Publix, it was only 1 mile to County Road 30A, where the parade was going to be. We parked, walked to 30A and found an uncrowded area of the road to wait for the parade to start. We did not have to wait long, about 10 minutes, until the parade started. Firetrucks, floats, cars and trucks with trailers went by. They threw beads and candy as they passed.

The whole parade was not very long and only lasted about 10 minutes or so. Then Mama Nomad and I walked to the plaza because they were going to have a lighting ceremony where they lit the big Christmas Tree and all the other trees in the plaza.

We got there and I was hungry. So I grabbed some BBQ from a food truck. After eating my food, it was about another 10 minutes and the countdown began. Santa Claus led the countdown. 3…2…1 and the town lit up. It was wonderful to see.

The Seaside Parade was definitely worth attending. Mama Nomad and I had a great evening. The parade and lighting are worth checking out, once, if you are in the area. It did definitely help kick off the Christmas Season. Safe Travels.