{"id":214511,"date":"2026-03-11T07:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/214511\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T07:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:58:09","slug":"annual-city-of-trees-parade-reflects-sacramentos-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/214511\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual City of Trees Parade Reflects Sacramento’s Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music filled the air, light-up art cars flashed by, and with the Tower Bridge on one end and the Capitol on the other, downtown Sacramento turned into a colorful celebration Feb. 28 during the fifth annual City of Trees Parade and Mardi Gras Festival.<\/p>\n

What began as a simple wish has become one of Sacramento\u2019s most lively annual traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe principal way that it\u2019s evolved is it\u2019s gotten bigger,\u201d said Wes Samms, founder and lead organizer of the parade. \u201cWe have more performers, more attendees, and more community groups represented every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parade takes inspiration from Mardi Gras in New Orleans<\/a>, but has a spirit unique to Sacramento. Samms, who spent eight years living in New Orleans, said he wasn\u2019t deeply involved in parade culture there. Instead, he wanted to see Sacramento celebrate its own identity.<\/p>\n

\"HundredsHundreds Unit, an inclusive women\u2019s dance troupe, performs at the City of Trees Parade. Seth Patterson, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

\u201cMardi Gras is an opportunity for any place, any people, to celebrate themselves, their town, their heritage, their music,\u201d Samms said. \u201cAny individual person can be their funky self to the maximum.\u201d<\/p>\n

After organizing protest marches through his nonprofit, March for Science Sacramento, Samms realized during the pandemic that \u201cthe logistics of a protest and a parade were basically the same.\u201d In 2022, the first parade launched in partnership with the Sacramento NAACP, Sacramento Valley Spark, and Wide Open Walls.<\/p>\n

Now drawing between 10,000 and 20,000 attendees annually, the mile-long parade features about 1,300 participants. Samms said the economic and cultural impact is significant.<\/p>\n

\"FloatsFloats wind through downtown Sacramento during the City of Trees Parade. Seth Patterson, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent more than $20,000 on the artists and performers in our parade,\u201d he said. \u201cAs far as I know, we\u2019re the only parade in Sacramento that pays its paraders instead of having them pay us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers say the event helps reshape perceptions of downtown and Old Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t feel like downtown is a place where they can have fun,\u201d Samms said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re there and the magic is happening, the floats are rolling by, beads are flying, kids are playing with bubbles \u2014 it feels safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parade prides itself on reflecting Sacramento\u2019s diversity. For attendees like Simone Wilson, that diversity is part of the appeal. She and her son have attended the festival three times.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe parade, held for the fifth time, drew an estimated 10,000-20,000 to downtown Sacramento. Mom Candice is shown with her daughters Deijah, Desiree, and Destiny during the festive event. Seth Patterson, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love how the festival brings residents together to celebrate the diverse Sacramento culture,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI really hope the festival keeps happening yearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Sacramento continues to define itself not just as farm-to-fork but also as the city of trees, the parade has become a growing symbol of creative expression and civic pride.For Samms, the goal extends beyond one night of celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope people feel inspired,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope they feel proud. I hope they see something they\u2019ve never seen before from this community and realize there\u2019s so much more right here.\u201dOrganizers already are looking ahead to next year and encourage community members to get involved through the parade\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music filled the air, light-up art cars flashed by, and with the Tower Bridge on one end and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[912,29978,121,123,48625,122],"class_list":["post-214511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-carousel","tag-mardi-gras","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-naacp","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}