After I got elected, I committed to several people that believed in me, that once I became mayor, the first thing I was going to do is work as hard as I could to start a Christmas parade. I started working towards that and I kept getting doors slammed in my face every day. As soon as I'd say the word Christmas, people were done listening. We can't help you with that. And I said, why? And he goes, well, because it's Christmas. And I said, okay, so if you guys won't help me, I'm going to do this on my own. This isn't going to be a city of Glendale Parade. It's going to be a Christmas parade. It's not going to be a holiday parade, it's going to be a Christmas parade that's in the city of Glendale, run. And basically organized by the mayor of the city of Glendale.
And he said, we can't stop you from doing that, but you'll have to pay all your own expenses. So be it. This started off with nothing. It's now the largest parade in Arizona, not the largest Christmas parade, it's the largest parade flat out in Arizona. We're improving the lives of the people that we serve, and I get to do something that I love and I get to stand out there boldly tell people Merry Christmas, and I don't have any problem doing that.
