Over the hill: Thousand Oaks celebrates its 50th birthday in style
This year, the City of Thousand Oaks celebrates its 50 year birthday by hosting the largest parade in Thousand Oaks history since 1964, when the city was founded. For many years, the annual parade was part of Conejo Valley Days, but the tradition was discontinued recently.
Students from Color Guard, Band, Varsity Cheer, and Dance Team all performed in the parade. ASG also participated, riding on their own float.
Madeleine Tomlinson, junior, was one of the people to ride on the ASG float. Tomlinson was in charge of recruitment to represent the school and helped set up the float decorations. “(My favorite part was) pumping up the crowd while I was on the float with all of my friends,” Tomlinson said. “It was a great and exciting way to start my morning.”
Kristen Banaszkiewicz, junior, participated in the parade as part of Color Guard. “We were dancing and twirling flags as the band played ‘Back to Black’ by ACDC.”
Joe Joyce, a native of Thousand Oaks and Interact Club organizer, said that he “enjoyed having everybody out there.” Joyce remembered his own parade experience from years ago, saying that, “one time a DJ came by and people were dancing in the street, and my friends started dancing in the street like a bunch of funny people.”
Banaszkiewicz not only enjoyed the experience of the parade, but also how the school came together.
“This is the most spirited I have ever seen our school,” Banaszkiewicz said.
