Genevieve Goings and Constantine “DC” Abramson, the stars of Disney Junior’s “Choo Choo Soul,” will lead the 108th annual Ocean City Baby Parade at 5 p.m. Aug. 10.
Registration is open to anybody who wants to participate in the parade, which features children ages 10 and under. For an online entry form and more information, visit ocnj.us/babyparade. Participants also can sign up at the Welcome Center on the ground floor of City Hall at Ninth Street and Asbury Avenue. Entry fee is $5 per child, and the registration deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 8.
For more than a century, families have dressed their young children and adorned strollers, wagons and small floats in comical and fancy themes as part of the annual tradition.
Before serving as grand marshals in the parade, Choo Choo Soul will perform a show at the Ocean City Music Pier at 10:30 a.m. on the same day. Ticket prices are $20 orchestra and $18 solarium and are on sale now at oceancityvacation.com/boxoffice, at (609) 399-6111 or in-person at the Music Pier Box Office and city welcome centers.
Goings and Abramson are entering their 11th year of entertaining pre-schoolers and parents worldwide. Born from the mind of a Silicon Valley video game developer, Choo Choo Soul began as a hip-hop/soul children’s album of music that “won’t drive parents crazy.” The album caught fire and the brand was acquired by Disney and developed into a live-action television feature in 2006 that encouraged young viewers to get up and dance to their funky, urban sound. Choo Choo Soul began touring the country in 2007 and has performed for thousands of children in over 100 cities across the globe.
The parade route is from Sixth Street to 12th Street on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Bands, special guests, cars and dignitaries will travel to 14th Street. The reviewing stand will be at the Ocean City Music Pier at Moorlyn Terrace.
Any bands or performing groups interested in joining the parade line up should contact Mike Hartman at mhartman@ocnj.us. We are also in need of volunteers to serve as balloon handlers for our brand new Martin Z. Mollusk and “Sandels” helium balloons.