Encinitas Reverses the Christmas/Holiday Trend

Laer at Cheat Seeking Missiles points out a story that's a reverse of what we are normally seeing these days in regards to Christmas/Holiday events. The mayor of Encintas has actually dared to change the "holiday" parade back to a Christmas parade, and it's not going over well in parts of the community.

A yearly event intended to bring cheer to the community has instead brought rancor because the mayor decided to change its name. Mayor Dan Dalager, a lifelong resident of this thriving coastal city, has caused a tiff by renaming the city-sponsored Encinitas Holiday Parade as the Encinitas Christmas Parade.

Three groups have told the city they won't participate because of the change, but Dalager, a Christian, says he won't change it back and that the Encinitas Christmas Parade will proceed as scheduled on Dec. 3.

[...]

Exercising what he said is the mayor's prerogative, Dalager months ago instructed city staffers to rename the parade.

Because of the change, the local Girl Scouts Seacoast Service Unit, Leucadia Town Council and Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Southern California have told the city they will not participate, said Chris Hazeltine, director of parks and recreation.

The name change also has drawn sharp criticism from the rabbi at an Encinitas synagogue.

Hazeltine said 82 groups have applied to participate this year, down from 95 the year before.

[...]

Dalager said the event was known as the Christmas parade years ago.

Keepsake coffee mugs and yellowed clippings of the Encinitas Coast Dispatch from 1963 and 1967 ---- which Dalager showed to a reporter last week ---- prove his point.

One photo spread shows the event as being named "The Spirit of Christmas Parade."

"The first 50 years of my life I went to the Encinitas Christmas Parade," Dalager said. "Somewhere, somehow ---- nobody seems to know who ---- somebody changed it. I changed it back."

Dalager said the decision was his alone.

In a related move, and also without public debate, Dalager before last Easter changed the name of the city's Spring Egg Hunt to the Easter Egg Hunt. That change did not lead to public controversy.

The parade is next weekend, but what do you want to bet somebody tries to get a court order to change the name back to "holiday".