Hundreds of students, parents, public officials and community members turned out Saturday morning for the annual Crosstown Showdown Parade in downtown Ceres to herald the highly anticipated crosstown football game this Friday evening.
The parade became an annual tradition in 2022 to drum up additional excitement for the Ceres High-Central Valley varsity and junior-varsity football games. The first event was held at Whitmore Park on a weekday but last year moved to Saturday in downtown and Whitmore Park to include more community involvement.
The parade started at 10 a.m. and ended in Whitmore Park, traveling through blocks in the business district. The parade included a fire engine leading the way, football players from Ceres High School and Central Valley High School with cheerleaders, school bands, color guards and dancers. City and school district officials also rode in the parade aboard Shane Parson’s antique San Francisco trolley car. Congressman John Duarte, in the midst of a re-election battle with Adam Gray, also showed up for the event.
The Ceres Lions Club provided free tacos and drinks for the crowd.
The parade drew attention for this week’s crosstown rivalry contests.
“It’s really cool for a smaller town like ours to create an event to unify the community,” commented Ceres High football leader Brett Johnson. “The kids enjoy walking the parade and being part of something like that.”
Central Valley High School Principal Casey Giovannoni said that despite the rivalry between the two schools, a spirit of community unity was evident at the parade.
A sell-out crowd of approximately 3,000 are expected to attend Friday’s crosstown football games. The Bulldogs and Hawks will play on Friday, Nov. 1 at Ceres High’s revamped stadium, which included new AstroTurf, a Beynon all-weather track, a Daktronics scoreboard and air conditioning in the snack bar and team rooms. The CHS Stadium track and field project cost $6.7 million with Ceres Unified School District using funding from its Local Control and Accountability Plan Reserve.
The freshmen play on Thursday, which is Halloween night while the JV and varsity games will get underway at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, on Friday.
Only 2,500 tickets will be available for purchase on GoFan beginning on today with a maximum of four tickets allowed per purchase. Paper tickets became available Monday for in-person purchase at the Doghouse and Hawk’s Nest. A maximum of 200 tickets will be available at each site. There will be no ticket sales at the gate.
At Monday’s Ceres City Council meeting, members were split over who they are rooting for. Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said she is rooting for the Central Valley Hawks since her four children attended there.
Vice Mayor Bret Silveira commented that “everybody was in a good mood because obviously the Ceres High School Bulldogs will come out on top on Friday.”
Mayor Javier Lopez, who is a Central Valley coach, and Silveira have pledged that if their team loses they will wear the opposing team’s shirt at the next council meeting.
Lopez gave a shout-out for his freshman team which is 9-0.
Councilman Daniel Martinez, who is also a CV Hawks fan, said he would like to see the Crosstown Showdown Parade include other sports and athletes.