SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The Mother Goose Parade, a beloved holiday tradition in El Cajon since 1947, has been absent since 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdowns, but efforts are underway to revive it by Thanksgiving 2026.
Originally started by a local businessman as a gift to children and a way to attract shoppers before Christmas, the parade grew to be the largest holiday parade west of the Mississippi.
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells supports efforts to bring back the parade, joining the community’s push to resurrect the tradition.
Posters have been appearing around El Cajon featuring a QR code that leads to a petition aimed at rallying support for the parade’s revival.
The community hopes to see the parade return by Thanksgiving 2026, marking nearly 80 years since its inception.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KSWB. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KSWB staff before being published.
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