Sonic Christmas Parade/Acadiana Heroes Flag Hike Rolls Today

The Sonic Christmas Parade rolls through Downtown today, Sunday, December 8th and, again this year, it will honor Acadiana's veterans.

Long known as the "Official Arrival of Santa in Lafayette, Louisiana", Santa Claus will be the star of the parade, arriving in grand fashion toted by the Lafayette Fire Department.

The parade also serves as the Acadiana Heroes Flag Hike. Acadiana Heroes is an organization created to honor members of the military, veterans, first responders, and anyone else our community deems a hero. Acadiana Heroes exists to support each other and to advocate for all veterans and their dependents and make a postitive impact on the community. All veterans are invited to attend the event and take part in the Flag Hike. If you are unable to walk the hike, there WILL be a vehicle in which you can ride through the parade. Veterans are encouraged to wear something to identify them as a veteran!

The Louisiana Jeepers also always put on a good showing at the event, with many of them offering rides to veterans.

Dance teams, civic organizations, marching bands, media outlets, and other groups will also take part in the parade, which will run from the Downtown Lafayette sign at the underpass on Jefferson to Johnston Street, St. Mary, then on to Heymann Blvd in the Oil Center. The parade ends at South College.

Kids are invited to bring letters to Santa, as they will be collected and mailed to the North Pole for review.

After the parade, take the family to Parc International, which has been turned into the Southern North Pole, for an opportunity to get a picture with Santa.

VETERANS: If you are not a member of the Acadiana Heroes Facebook Group, please join! There's lots of great information on that page, including event announcements, daily Fallen Hero posts, and group meet-ups. Let us, as veterans, support each other!