Palm Springs honors Black History Month with annual parade Saturday

Hundreds of people lined Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs Saturday for the 35th Annual City of Palm Springs Black History Month Parade and Town Fair. The in-person event was held in its traditional form for the first time in two years after the pandemic forced the 2021 parade to be a vehicle-only caravan.

From the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center drill team and drum squad to the Palm Springs High School marching band, "Spirit of the Sands," music and drumming stole the show as local students and youth marched down Palm Canyon for the hour-long event.

The president of the city's Black History Committee, Jarvis Crawford, served as the master of ceremonies, and his wife, Reshae Crawford, announced the parade participants as they walked by. The event was organized by the committee and the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center.

"Black history is American history," Crawford said from the stage, later adding in an interview that the parade is an important way for the city's residents to get to know neighbors and build community.

Students and educators from local schools were a significant part of the parade, represented by a group of marchers from the Palm Springs Unified School District's Junior Black Achievers. They were joined by the 24 local high school students traveling to Washington D.C. later this year to visit various Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

District Superintendant Mike Swize showed his support as the students marched by, stepping into the street with other district staff members to take a picture with them during a pause in the marching.

Swize said he was "happy to support the students" and encouraged young people to contact their school counselors if they want to be involved in the HBCU program next year.

College of the Desert Associate Professor Mzilikazi Koné said she was enjoying the parade "as a family affair," with her mother and dog sitting with her on the sidewalk.

"We're out here forging connections and getting to know the community," Koné said.

Several Palm Springs elected leaders participated in the parade, as well as leaders from neighboring cities, such as Desert Hot Springs Councilmember Jan Pye.

Pye said she was "happy to see people's faces again" as she sat on the lawn of the new Downtown Park amid the various booths that made up the Town Fair.

Earlier, during the parade, she was joined in a car by 19-year-old Tre Terry of Desert Hot Springs, who served as the parade's grandmaster in 2015.

"It was amazing," Terry said of the event.

Groups such as Section 14 Survivors and Brothers of the Desert, as well as churches including the First Baptist Church of Palm Springs and United Methodist Church of Palm Springs, were among the marchers.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Annual Palm Springs Black History Month Parade returns Saturday