Imagine being a general, at war, and you have 14 detachments of soldiers stationed along the front line. Welcome to the world of Robb Huff, parade announcer and organizer for the annual Coronado July Fourth Parade.
His role in this patriotic display each year goes largely unnoticed by the tens of thousands of people watching. And, perhaps that’s because he’s so good at his job.
You see, Robb’s job is to coordinate a gaggle of volunteers, of all ages and backgrounds, and position them at 14 elevated stations along Orange Avenue, from First Street to Churchill Place.
They work from a parade script describing 120 or so entries; they manipulate a sophisticated sound system; and they require the ability to enunciate – not too fast, not too slow. All of this is interwoven around carefully selected musical sound bites designed to entertain and fill the inevitable awkward gaps that occur during the actual parade.
Robb, who looks like a young, mustachioed Van Heflin (ask your parents) has lived in Coronado 40 years. He is a current board member of the July Fourth Committee and has been announcing the parade for 38 years. He and his wife, C.W. Huff, were noticed because she was writing an award-winning column for the Coronado Journal at the time.
“It started off in 1988,” remembered the jovially humble announcer, “with a minimum of equipment – a table, two bullhorns, a microphone and a script. In those days people just read the script they were given.
“Then we introduced music. Imagine what a DJ requires to do his job, and we had that kind of equipment at each announcer’s table. The simple rule is, ‘talk when you see a parade entry, and play music when you don’t.’” Well, best laid plans of mice and men.
And so, begins each Coronado July Fourth Parade. They start with an organizational plan, and each then takes its own path; sometimes humorous, sometimes not.
“We’ve certainly had our challenges over the years,” said Huff. “It all begins with the script, but it always requires work to get the script translated just right. We ask all the entries to submit details, which they mostly do in a first-person voice. They are usually way too long, and they ramble,” he said laughing at some of the memories. There is a script for everyone – City Council, T-Bird Club, clowns, Shriners, etc.
“First, we alter it to be a third-person voice, and shorten it dramatically. There are two or three announcers dedicated to each station. Sometimes, because of the length of the parade, we have to caution our announcers not to make mistakes, or improvise. Sometimes the order gets mixed up, entry number 36 might get in front of number 35, so a spotter has to visually identify each group while someone reads that particular description.
“The old joke is, ‘and here they are, the San Diego Clown Club,’ and it’s actually the Coronado City Council. Of course, that was an accident, but I still got nasty calls and letters about it.”
As one can imagine, there is a lot to deal with. Horses shy away from airplanes flying too low, sirens, cars backfiring or racing their engines, and loud popping noises in general. Sometimes scripts from groups like the Shriners take more than 15 minutes to read. “As much as we try and rehearse,” said Huff, “mistakes happen, some entries go too fast, others too slow, and it’s a constant balancing act on the edge of a cliff.”
One of his favorite entries has always been the Pearl Harbor Survivors. Now, however, there are none left. As manager of the music, Robb insisted his people always played one specific song as the Pearl Harbor Survivors went by – “America the Beautiful” by Ray Charles.
Robb has been a musician his entire life. He has a degree in music, and he and his wife C.W., an award-winning writer, lived in Europe for four years while Robb went from being a street corner busker to a small nightclub touring act.
Robb and C.W. have been married for 53 years. When they returned from Europe, he took a job running the Department of Music at UCSD. At that point he had unlimited access to equipment. He continued to do gigs as a musician. Today he has a six-piece band called The Suenamis, who are a popular Concert in the Park entry every year, and perform around town at various locations and events. Rob plays rhythm guitar and sings.
Huff is used to standing on a stage and performing – audience pleasing, if you will. He’s also a very proud man, a perfectionist. Sometimes that seeking of perfection comes across as arrogance. Those who know him closely understand that’s not the case at all, no, it’s a desire to do the best work he can, to produce the best experience, and to maintain a complicated schedule. And that, he does.
When he is on stage with a band, a six-piece band such as the Suenamis, he doesn’t just sing and play guitar. He subconsciously locks in to the driving beat of the drummer; to the bottom line of the bass player. He listens for, and seeks harmonies as opposed to chaos. His job as soundman at the Coronado July Fourth Parade brings all of that into focus, and this is largely why Coronado has one of the best parades in the country … year after year, after year.
Over the decades Robb has continued to fine tune the production of narration and music for the Coronado July Fourth Parade. Ironically, as in-touch as he is with today’s technology, he continues to provide music from his antiquated personal cassette collection. To put that into perspective, music cassettes were popular from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.
Robb’s cassettes are basically one song each, and there are 50 of them. They run the gamut from John Phillip Sousa to Jimmy Buffett. If he gets caught up in a conversation with a young fan trying to ask questions, he flips the music over to a looped capture of Disney parade songs.
Today he has MP3 players with each of his volunteers and they have a loop of songs appropriate to what’s taking place along Orange Avenue.
“Robb Huff is the voice of the Coronado Fourth of July Parade,” said Jamie Hartnett, president of Coronado Fourth of July. For many years, Robb and his wife C.W. have poured their hearts and souls into creating an unforgettable parade experience for spectators all along Orange Avenue. Whether he’s curating the perfect music, enthusiastically announcing parade entries, or entertaining the crowd — often while sporting one of his signature kilts — Robb brings energy, passion, and personality to the celebration. Simply put, the parade would not be the same without him.”
Before Robb came into the picture, there was no music. He literally created the program people hear today. Robb’s most important tool is a small, weathered box containing his many old-fashioned cassette tapes, and a hand-scribbled list of years he has performed the parade script dating from 1988 to 2026, with pertinent notes.
“As a member of the Coronado Fourth of July Board of Directors, Robb also leads the Parade Announcers Committee, recruiting and coordinating emcees for announcer stations throughout the parade route,” added Hartnett. “He works tirelessly to ensure each announcer is prepared, engaged, and committed to making the parade a memorable experience for everyone in attendance.”
As one might imagine, a lot can go wrong, and often does. Some are humorous. Robb is cognizant of how to work a microphone. “Many (most),” he says, “are not.” A hot mic mistake, where the narrator is talking to someone else and forgets the mic is on, is commonplace.
Every year he encounters lost or wandering children who have become separated from their parents. Robb calls it “The Lost Parent Syndrome.”
“When we have a child show up, the mothers always send the fathers to come up to collect their child. We kiddingly refer to that as, ‘The Walk of Shame,’ he laughed. Sometimes the crowd heckles the dads in fun, adding embarrassment to their walk.
“I am continually imploring my volunteers to understand, first of all, they are representing the City of Coronado,” said Huff. “Second of all, the Coronado July Fourth Parade and Concerts in the Park are among the most Americana events in the world, so they cannot share opinions or political comments.”
Huff says that, in the heat of battle, most of his volunteers forget that not everyone is looking at what they are talking about. “The nagging question is, ‘When do I start announcing the next float?’” Keep in mind, there are speakers pointing to the right and the left, some parade goers have already heard the announcement, some are still looking at the previous float. “You have to be aware that not all your comments make a lot of sense, and you have to have terrific awareness at all times and blend all that together the best you can,” said Huff.
“Knowing the tensions of the world we live in today, we also prep for potential panic situations. Horses get spooked at loud noises, but the last thing you want is for people to run. At the slightest hint of trouble, we throw on some John Phillip Souza to distract from the situation and calm reactions.
“We edit the entry descriptions so we’re not naming every little Pete and Sally, who won this riding award and that, and on a horse named Sue. We don’t take birthday requests.”
Perhaps the greatest compliment one could give Robb Huff and his team of volunteers is that no one notices all this behind the scenes preparation, and that parade goers are enamored with visual splendor and exciting (but brief) information on what they are seeing.
One of the most popular things are the poop circles. “They are really a big hit,” said Robb. We have to say it over and over for people to get their kids out into the street pre-parade. We provide them with chalk. Your circles can’t be more than three-feet in diameter, put your initials in them, and the words, ‘Poop Here!’ If a horse unloads in someone’s circle, the kids get prizes. This year Robb and his team will be giving out coupons for free ice cream, courtesy of Gelato Paradiso.
“I get a kick out of driving down Orange Avenue, even three days after the parade, and seeing the poop circles still showing on the street,” said Robb.
In addition to chalk, the announcers have large bags of swag which are constantly being handed out to children on parade day.
The following is an excerpt from a past parade: “Here comes the Coronado Fire Department’s Lil’ Mack. This 1938 pumper was part of the Coronado Fire Department’s fleet until 1977. Riding on it today are City Council members Whitney Benzian, Mike Donovan, Marvin Heinz and Bill Sandke. Also riding on Lil’ Mack are City Manager Blair King and Fire Chief Jim London.”
Again, part of the challenge is that if narrators go too slow, the entry has moved on. If they read too fast, they can stumble over words and names.
In the course of putting Huff’s feet to the fire to recall awkward moments from past parades, he admits that some things he finds ironic. “One year a Shriner had a medical emergency and we had dead air for 20 minutes in the middle of the parade. Huff admits he may have mumbled through his hot mic, “Is there a better place for a Shriner to join the Choir Invisible?’ I got letters. The City got letters. Now we have a legal document we all have to sign, promising not to use political comments, inappropriate language, or off-color jokes.
“Every year I get complaint letters. One lady complains a big person was in front of her and she couldn’t see. Others say there were too many canopies and they couldn’t see, or they couldn’t see because of the announcer stands.
“Back in the day, when we had low tables, people always wanted to talk to me. That’s a distraction that you just can’t deal with once the parade starts. Now we have the taller announcer stands that help immensely with viewing and avoiding distractions from people.” The stands are sponsored by local businesses.
Robb personally holds down the fort on the announcer stand in front of the Coronado Public Library. Over the years, the people who watch the parade from there have become like family, a special little “neighborhood,” as he calls it, where everyone knows everyone else.
One year an elderly woman walked up to Robb and said she wanted to tell a joke. “Well, I was naive back then, so I said, what’s your name darlin’? She told me and I announced it over the mic. Then she said, ‘What does an old woman have on her belly, that a young woman doesn’t?’ So, I repeat it on the mic, then hand her the microphone. She says, ‘Her tits!!!’ That’s when I realized I just can’t talk to people. I have to focus on my job.
Robb has one sound bite of a helicopter going loudly, stereo-traveling from one speaker to the next. He tells his audience to look up to see the helicopter, and then says, “Oh, it’s one of those new invisible choppers. State of the art stuff, so you can’t see it. Then I go into Don Henley’s ‘Boys of Summer’.
“At the end I go into a Joe Walsh song, ‘Rocky Mountain Way,’ and people walk away with a little dance and hop in their step. It’s all fun, and we give the best we can, year after year.”
Coronado is fortunate to have folks like Jamie Hartnett, Robb and C.W. Huff at the controls of special events such as the Coronado July Fourth Parade.
Coronado Magazine – July, 2026