COLORADO
The State Fair Parade is one of the oldest parades in Colorado and is coordinated by the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce and its State Fair Parade Committee. The parades always seem to draw huge crowds and put fairgoers in a festive mood.
The Colorado State Fair Parade, with the theme for 2023 being “Colorado… Mountains of Fun”, will take place Saturday, August 26. The parade will begin at 10:00 a.m. in downtown Pueblo.
The Colorado State Fair Parade Committee announced John Wristen, a former head coach for CSU Pueblo football, is the Grand Marshall for 2023. Wristen, who restarted the CSU Pueblo football program in 2007 and turned it into NCAA Division II National Champions, finished his 15th and final season as head football coach at CSU Pueblo last year.
Wristen was named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five consecutive times from 2011-2015, and again in 2017. He also has seven RMAC championships and eight appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs between 2011-2022 under his belt, the release states.
Tom and Anna Marie Giodone, of Giodone's Italian Bar & Grill, are named parade marshals. The Giodones married in 1962 and raised their two children, Denise and Tommy, on the St. Charles Mesa.
What was once a pool hall has now turned the Giodones into proud owners of the thriving Giodone’s Restaurant the community knows today.
Since 1987, Tom and Anna Marie have been invited and given the opportunity to be vendors at the Colorado State Fair and have had several venues and stands on the fairgrounds over the years.
For information about participating in the parade, please contact Terri Kallish at 719-542-1704 or terrik@pueblochamber.net. Early parade registration is by July 28 and late parade registration is by August 5.
The Fiesta Day Parade will be held on September 3, at 10:00 a.m., on Northern Avenue. Trophies will be presented to the winners of the Fiesta Day Parade at the Pepsi stage after the parade. Sponsors will be on the trophy and mentioned during the announcements at the presentation.
The Colorado State Fair Fiesta Committee is offering free entry to bands that want to be a part of the Colorado State Fair Fiesta Day Parade.
Contact Ken Bueno for more information, at (719) 821-2327.