Saturday morning parade plans include bike parking

The St Augustine Annual Christmas Parade is one of the largest in North Florida and Historic City News readers always enjoy the floats, marching bands, cars, horses, and, of course, the long awaited arrival of Santa Claus.

This year, the parade starts promptly at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning at the Mission of Nombre De Dios, and then continues through the downtown streets of historic St Augustine, winding up behind the Visitors Center on Castillo Drive.

Pictures with Santa will follow in the Plaza de la Constitucion.

On the heels of announcing new permanent bicycle parking locations downtown, the city has announced it will provide additional temporary bicycle parking areas to accommodate spectators at this Saturday’s St Augustine Christmas Parade.

The temporary bicycle parking areas will be located in front of City Hall at 75 King Street and on the northeast corner of Orange and Cordova Streets. There is no charge to use the temporary parking areas; which will accommodate approximately 250 bicycles.

Just as with the new permanent parking locations, the city’s two-fold goal is to serve the growing number of current bicyclists and to encourage more bicycling, especially during the city’s many special events.

While an event like the Christmas Parade will draw visitors many events to the city, it is also largely a local event, and so the hope is that more residents will choose to bike to the event rather than drive.

By providing a large number of easily accessible bicycle parking locations it is hoped that bicyclists will refrain from parking on private property or along the right-of-way using street signs and other fixtures which often block sidewalks.