On Oct. 25, 25 hopefuls showed up at Old Towne Pub in Old Pasadena for the Doo Dah Queen tryouts. Pasadena Now reported that the winner wore a googly-eyed hoop skirt and lifted it over her head to look like a tornado. Doo Dah has crowned a queen every year, so that was normal. What's different this year is that she won't ride down a street.
On Sunday, Nov. 22, the Pasadena Doo Dah Parade becomes the Doo Dah Love-In. It's a free afternoon of music and art at the Memorial Park Bandshell, 85 E. Holly St., running from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In a parade year, Doo Dah would last a morning on Colorado Boulevard and then be gone. This year it stays in one spot on Holly Street all afternoon. The Thursday before, the independent shops a few blocks down the same street hold their own holiday open house. For one week, Holly Street is where Pasadena's season starts.
Two Novembers Without a Route
Doo Dah started in Pasadena in 1978 as an offbeat counterpart to the Tournament of Roses. The nonprofit Light Bringer Project took over production in 1995. After years in East Pasadena, the parade came back to Old Pasadena in 2023. Here's how the last three Novembers went:
- 2024: The last street parade. According to Pasadena Now's route report, it started at Raymond Avenue and Holly Street, went south two blocks, turned west on Colorado Boulevard and ended at Pasadena Avenue.
- 2025: No parade. Light Bringer Project canceled it in August, citing the Eaton and Palisades fires, pressure on its school programs and uncertain funding for arts education. Managing director Patricia Hurley told the Pasadena Star-News it was "a difficult decision but a responsible one." On Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, a "No Doo Dah Day" takeover filled Dog Haus Biergarten and Old Towne Pub with music and a queen coronation.
- 2026: A Love-In at Memorial Park. Pasadena Now reported that the park event takes the place of the street procession because organizers couldn't get permits for a traditional parade this year.
Light Bringer Project's Natalie Lydick described last year's pub takeover to the Pasadena Star-News this way:
"We wanted to put on something that would just allow people to get together and celebrate what Doo Dah means to them, even if it wasn't going to be as grandiose as the parade."
This year's version is bigger than a night at two bars and smaller than a parade. It also has a fixed address. Light Bringer Project Board Chair Thomas Coston told the Pasadena Star-News that the change came after a delay in permitting. "I think more than ever, right now we need a Doo Dah Parade and we need a love-in," he said. According to the organizers' Oct. 28 press release, they want the event to bring Pasadena and Altadena residents back together after the Eaton Fire upended last year's plans.
What a Parade Looks Like on a Lawn
The 2024 parade stepped off at Raymond and Holly. This year's Love-In address is also on Holly Street. What changes is how you take it in. You don't line a curb and watch the entries roll past. You put down a blanket and the performers come to you. The official event page asks guests to bring a blanket, a picnic and friends, and to dress up if they feel like it. Costume and dance contests are on the schedule.
Here's how Sunday is set up:
- On the bandshell stage: Spaghetti Cumbia headlines. The rest of the lineup is The Hankies, Radioactive Chicken Heads, Count Smokula, Shag Party, Bonehenge, Robbie Ravenwood and the Funhouse Porcupines, Rocka Chewbacca, The Nextdoors, The Whistling Diva, StOnYAtTi, Bone Creek and Soul Fuzz.
- Royalty: Former queens Queen Mercy of the Merkettes, Taquila Mockingbird and Bootleg Meg are scheduled to appear with the new 2026 Doo Dah Queen and her court.
- Around the park: Parade regulars will be walking the grounds. Local artists and makers will show handmade oddities, crafts, wearable art, vintage clothing and interactive pieces.
- Food: Pasadena Now reports that Majano's Coffee and Fat Boys are expected to handle food and refreshments.
- Merch: Doo Dah T-shirts are sold in the staging area. The money supports the nonprofit, and a percentage goes to public school youth in the arts and to local artists.
- After 4:30 p.m.: The after-party is at Old Towne Pub, 66 N. Fair Oaks Ave., where Ashton Slater's Grateful Getdown plays. It's free and 21+.
The day ends at Old Towne Pub, the same bar that hosted the October tryouts and half of last year's takeover. The whole Doo Dah year now happens within a few blocks of Old Pasadena.
Holly Street Starts the Week on Thursday
Three days before the Love-In, the independent Shops on Holly hold Holidays on Holly. This is their 15th annual open house, and it happens Thursday, Nov. 19, on E. Holly Street. The official listing runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. From 2 to 8 p.m., unless a shop says otherwise, nine small businesses stay open late with discounts, trunk shows, cocktails and snacks. It's free and open to the public. Shoppers can bring an Old Pasadena Holiday Passport and collect stickers at each participating shop.
On a parade year, Doo Dah filled one stretch of Colorado Boulevard for one morning. This year it shares Holly Street with a shopping night run by the merchants on that street, and both events fall in the same five days. The district's broader Old Pasadena Holidays season started Nov. 4 and runs through Jan. 6, 2027, with snowflake decorations and seasonal programming across the district.
After Sunday, the Calendar Moves Toward the Rose Parade
When the Love-In wraps up, Pasadena's season moves away from Holly Street. Over the next six weeks it heads toward the event Doo Dah was originally created to parody. In date order:
- Thursday, Nov. 26: The Turkey Trot at Rose Bowl Stadium, listed for 8:30 a.m.
- Friday, Nov. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 24: One Colorado's holiday program at 41 Hugus Alley. It includes Santa photos, a holiday bazaar on Sunday, Nov. 29 from 2 to 6 p.m., a wreath workshop Dec. 5, a snow-globe workshop Dec. 12 and Santa story time Dec. 20.
- Friday, Dec. 4: The Mayor's Annual Holiday Tree Lighting at City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., from 5 to 7 p.m. The City of Pasadena lists performances, children's crafts and refreshments.
- Sunday, Dec. 13: The next Rose Bowl flea market, with a 5 a.m. listing.
- Monday, Dec. 28 through Wednesday, Dec. 30: Public float-decorating viewing at Rosemont Pavilion, 700 Seco St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Tournament of Roses.
- Friday, Jan. 1, 2027: The Rose Parade starts at 8 a.m. The 2027 theme is "Welcome."
Doo Dah was created as a counterpart to the Rose Parade. For the second year in a row, the counterpart won't get a route. In 2026 its answer is an afternoon in Memorial Park, five weeks and a few blocks away from the parade it was invented to poke fun at.
For more on what's happening around town, see our Pasadena neighborhood guide, or read about how the weekly errand run changed after South Lake Avenue lost its walkable grocery store.
At The Dix Group, we follow the blocks behind Pasadena's holiday calendar, from the Holly Street shops to the City Hall lawn. If a season like this has you wondering what your own place near Old Pasadena is worth, or what it would take to get one, we'd love to talk. Schedule your concierge consultation.
