McAllen Holiday Parade once again awarded “The Best” at Texas events industry conference
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Jan 14, 2019, Comments Off
(Laredo, Texas)-The McAllen Holiday Parade continues to be recognized as “The Best Overall” in the state of Texas walking away with 14 awards – 7 of which were gold – as well as the coveted Best Overall award for the second year in a row for the McAllen Holiday Parade at this past weekend’s Texas Association of Fairs and Events annual conference held in Galveston.
When speaking to the more than 700 attendees at the conference in the award presentation, Jerry Huffman, President of TAF&E and Executive Director of the George H. Henderson Jr. Exposition Center said, “I think it’s an awesome, awesome thing for McAllen to win this. What McAllen has done in just the last few years in creating this project [McAllen Holiday Parade] is absolutely incredible. This is how good McAllen is. You are better than anybody else in the state.”
The McAllen Holiday Parade competed in the attendance category of 250,001 – 500,000 of the TAF&E Ray Cammack Shows Awards of Excellence for Marketing and Communications, competing against such events as the East Texas State Fair from Tyler, Texas and Grapefest in Grapevine, Texas. Other big winners included the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the San Antonio Livestock Show & Rodeo, and the State Fair of Texas, as well as the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show & Rodeo, winning several awards and competing in the same category as the McAllen Holiday Parade.
The McAllen Holiday Parade that was awarded Best Overall in its category, which judges events based on their purpose and mission, the quality of marketing and communication elements, as well as activities included with the event, such as the volunteer program; merchandising and other special programs including community outreach programs. The McAllen Holiday Parade highlights the number of volunteers, and age of those volunteers to participate and the green program, which provides recycle bags to parade attendees who sit along Bicentennials Boulevard for their recyclables or trash. The private Celebrity Meet & Greet with the Capable Kids Foundation is also a highlight of the entry.
“This award just confirms what we in McAllen and the entire Rio Grande Valley already know about the McAllen Holiday Parade; it is indeed the Best!” said McAllen Mayor Jim Darling. “I can’t wait to see what we do this year to make it another magical night.”