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Pacoima 2024 Holiday Parade and The Food Truck Group’s Entry

A wide shot of The Food Truck Group and Oh La-La Coffee and Breakfast families and guests, They stand in a row for a picture. In the center is a red sofa, where some of the people sit. Beside them on the right are two food carts. To the left is the back of Oh La-La's food truck.

The Pacoima 2024 Holiday Parade brought the neighborhood together in the only way local traditions can. With so many people celebrating the holidays, the community made this a day to remember.

 

This year, The Food Truck Group participated in the parade alongside our clients who had been awarded grants through ICON CDC for their food carts. We’re proud of the work these vendors put in to reach this point, and walking alongside them in the parade felt important to us.

 

This year saw a blend of cultures, small businesses, and longtime residents who came together to create something festive and welcoming. Before the parade began, we connected with other vendors, took photos, and enjoyed mingling with everyone.

 

Local parades are a time for people to celebrate and give a chance for small businesses to represent themselves to the community.

Walking With Our Clients

For us, a special part of the parade for us was walking alongside the clients whose food carts we helped manufacture.

These were small business owners who had received grant funding through ICON CDC and completed the long process of inspections, permits, and paper required to operate legally. Their carts represent months of preparation and commitment.

Instead of participating in the parade separately, we joined together to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

This mattered to us.

Their food carts represent the work these business owners endured to reach the point they’re at now. In honor of their dedication, we wanted to showcase them publicly at the holiday parade.

It also allowed families watching along the parade route to see the real people behind those businesses. These were people walking proudly with their food carts, waving and smiling at everyone they passed.

Moments like this stay with people, and remind them these business owners are still human- just like them.

A wide shot of a yellow truck owned by Norky, Built For Kids TV. A green Santa hat is on the windshield. A sombrero is on the roof of the truck. Standing on the trunk of the truck is the penguin mascot, wearing a scarf and blue baseball cap.

Our Entry in the Parade

We wanted to do something special for our part to celebrate this holiday season.

Our truck carried a small float-style setup in the back. We decorated it with a Christmas tree, wrapped presents, and festive decorations. A cozy couch sat in the center, and one of our food carts was displayed alongside it.

Three members of The Food Truck Group rode on the float, while the rest of us walked alongside the truck with our clients and food carts, all wearing festive headband antlers.

We wanted the setup to feel welcoming and open, reflecting who we are as a hardworking, community-based small business

As we drove along the parade route, we waved to the crowd and gave our biggest smiles. It’s a small thing you can easily dismiss, but it makes a big impact on the crowd.

It makes local parades feel personal when you acknowledge the families taking their time to watch. Bigger parades require constant coordination where they can’t take the time to invest completely in a huge crowd. At local parades, however, small businesses and community members can slow down and really focus on the families who showed up to support them.

This creates a connection larger parades sometimes can’t replicate.

A wide shot of Boo Boo’s ice cream truck with a small float behind it. The ice cream truck is pale yellow and orange. On the roof is an inflatable Santa with a sleigh and reindeers. Behind, the float has children dressed as elves, and the Grinch waving at the crowd.

The Spirit of the Parade

People from different backgrounds came together to make this holiday parade special.

Behind us, you could see a bright pink trailer for Oh La-La Coffee and Breakfast, a family-owned business. We spent time with the owner before the parade began, taking photos and catching up before the parade began in full.

In another part of the parade, you can see Boo-Boo’s Ice Cream truck pulling a small float behind them, featuring The Grinch alongside children dressed as elves. 

Another part of the parade featured a mariachi band, carrying music with them.

 

There were also cowboys on horseback, the leads carrying the Spanish flag and United States flag as they rode down the street.

A truck representing Norky Built For Kids was also there, featuring a large penguin mascot who rode at the back to wave at children.

Many community groups and youth organizations participated as well, each bringing with them something unique to the parade, making this a day to remember.

A wide shot of a small mariachi band. In front of them is their white car. To the left, the mariachi band prepares their instruments. To the right, children clothed in white dress shirts and black pants get ready. Behind them are more of the young adult members of the mariachi band.

Why This Parade Meant Something to Us

We work with the community year-round, whether it’s helping families start their own vendor business, sending our food trucks out to service events, or supporting whatever is needed to make those events successful.

Many of the vendors who walked with us had just recently launched their fruit cart business with support from Icon CDC. They endured and invested the time needed into learning regulations, permits, and passing inspections.

It means the world to use to see them proudly present their businesses in a public setting like the local parade.

For people watching from the sidelines, it can spark curiosity. Some might consider visiting these vendors in the future, while for others this might set them on the track to becoming a vendor.

Visibility matters, and we wanted to give our vendors an opportunity to be seen as part of the parade itself.

The family of the small business Oh La La Coffee and Breakfast group up to take a picture at the back of their food truck. The mother stands at the center with everyone around her. The back of the food truck has the name of the business and how to contact them. The bottom half of the food truck has vertical pink stripes across it. Above them is a blue sky with clouds.

Community First

The Food Truck Group works with vendors throughout Los Angeles County, and many of those relationships are rooted in Pacoima.

Participating in the Pacoima 2024 Holiday Parade was one way of showing up for the same community that supports us.

 

What made our part in the parade special was walking alongside the clients we’ve worked with. Even after we provide the resources they need to start their business, we want to continue supporting them.

The Vendors Who Joined Us

We’re grateful to the food vendors who walked with us and represented their business during the parade.

Preparing a food cart for a parade takes effort. Vendors rely on daily operations to support their income, so stepping away from a regular business day to join a parade requires planning.

The vendors who joined us made the commitment to show up and celebrate the holiday spirit together. Seeing them stand confidently beside their food carts as part of the parade was easily the highlight for us, as it showed how far they’ve come.

A cowboy rides a horse on a saddle. He holds a rope connected to the harness of a miniature horse. A young girl dressed in a white dress sits on top of the miniature horse. In the background is another horse. They stand on the concrete. Along the sidewalk, the crowd watches.

Looking Back

Parades like this are only made possible when the community comes together.

They depend heavily on volunteers, small businesses, families, and local leaders all contributing something.

The Pacoima parade is a reminder that small businesses have a visible place in their community.

We genuinely enjoy being part of this experience. It gives our small businesses a chance to gain more recognition, and it allows us to celebrate the holiday alongside others.

We can’t wait to be involved in the next parade, whether we’re volunteering or joining the parade lineup again.

Where To Find Us

Do you need food trucks for your next event? We handle event food truck coordination, festival catering, and large-scale vendor management. Whether it’s a concert, corporate event, or brand activation, we make sure the right trucks show up and everything runs smoothly.

DM us to book now!

Website: thefoodtruckgroup.com 

Email: hello@thefoodtruckgroup.com

Phone Number: (818) 408-4545

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