Santa’s elves pulled off a holiday miracle on Friday, gifting Turlock with perfect weather for the 41st annual Downtown Christmas Parade. Hundreds lined the streets of West Main to “ooh” and “ahh” as schools, community groups, businesses, scout troops and churches displayed their holiday spirit in the form of lights and wonder.

This year’s theme was “Christmas at the Arcade” and classic games like Pac-Mac, Whack-A -Mole (or Whack-A-Crowell, as the elementary school renamed the game) and Mario Brothers all made an appearance.

The City of Turlock’s Recreation Department and the Turlock Firefighters Local 2434 once again sponsored the parade, but due to City budget cuts it wouldn’t have happened without the financial support of the Turlock Chamber of Commerce and the Turlock Downtown Property Owners Association. The business organizations donated $6,000 to help fill the funding gap so the parade could go on with the needed traffic and public safety personnel.