Benefits to Keep West Cape May Christmas Parade Alive

WEST CAPE MAY — It’s a parade so big that it stretches into two towns and takes three hours to view from start to finish. Traditionally it opens with the Coast Guard color guard and closes with Santa Claus atop a West Cape May fire truck.
Preparations and fundraising activities are in full swing for the 48th annual West Cape May Community Christmas Parade Dec. 7.
The parade started almost five decades ago when parade founder Charlotte Daily wanted to enter an established prize-winning, 4-H float in a Cape May Christmas parade. When rain cancelled the parade with no makeup date, Daily started her own parade in West Cape May.
The Borough of West Cape May stepped in several years ago to help with the parade. Daily continues to offer wisdom and guidance, according to West Cape May Mayor Pam Kaithern.
She said the parade is expensive to produce but is a huge draw bringing visitors to the area on a weekend in December when the mercury normally drops to the freezing mark.
The mayor said the cost to pay bands participating in the parade arriving from other areas costs $30,000 to $35,000. The parade will have more than 20 bands ranging from high school units to Philadelphia-area string bands.
Fundraising events are necessary to keep the parade alive.
“We found community partners that would step in and run the fundraisers ‘soup to nuts,’ and at the end of the event, they turn over the funds to the parade,” she said. “Those funds are used exclusively for the parade.”
About two-thirds of the revenue needed to run the parade comes from the fundraisers.
The 48-year-old parade tradition will meet a 75-year tradition Sunday Oct. 13 when a fundraiser is held at Cape May’s Chalfonte Hotel. Dot Burton, who with her sister Lucille Thompson have been cooking at the Chalfonte Hotel for 77 years, will be serving a Southern fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans as a fundraiser for the parade.
Burton assisted Daily with the parade for 40 years.
All proceeds go to fund the parade. Tickets are available at West Cape May Borough Hall and at the door Sunday at the Chalfonte Hotel at 6 p.m.
“The parade is a massive economic catalyst for the entire Southern part of Cape May County in December,” said Kaithern.
Visitors come for the entire weekend, shop in local stores, dine in restaurants and stay in local lodgings, said the mayor.
Six fundraisers have been scheduled for the parade.
West Cape May Cub Scout Pack 73 will hold a 5K dusk run Oct. 26 beginning at 5:45 p.m. An “after-glow” party will be held at 7 p.m. featuring a beef ‘n beer. Both events will benefit the parade. For details, call 609-204-0999.
The Pilot House, 142 Decatur St., Cape May, will host a spaghetti dinner to benefit the parade Nov. 4 from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door.