With over 150 entries, the De Soto Grand Parade is one of the largest and oldest parades in the Southeastern United States. Over 100,000 people line the streets of Bradenton to view the illuminated floats and catch a glimpse of our new Hernando de Soto, Captain of the Crewe and their newly crowned Queen and Princess. Beads, coins, and other fun items are handed to the crowd throughout the night.
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The De Soto Grand Parade is getting a major overhaul in 2024, as the event has outgrown its traditional route thanks to an increasing number of entries, more spectators, and bigger floats.
The parade will now start in downtown Bradenton, where crowds will be able to watch floats stage before they stream down Manatee Avenue. Our goal is to bring a family-friendly downtown, “street party” hours before the parade steps off. The festivities will include a 5K race, live music, street vendors and children’s activities, leading up to the parade’s 7:30PM start.
The parade will now stage on Manatee Avenue between 1st Street and 9th Street West. This nine block section of Manatee Avenue will close at 1:00PM on parade day with westbound Manatee Avenue traffic re-routed around the parade staging area via 9th Avenue W. East bound traffic will not be affected. As in past years, the remainder of Manatee Avenue from 9th Street W to 43rd Street W will close at 5:00pm to enable crowd protection barricades to be placed along the 1.75 mile route.
This year, northbound lanes of the Green Bridge going to Palmetto will remain open during the parade. The southbound lanes will close roughly one hour before parade starts. Third Avenue West and Ninth Avenue West will remain open throughout the parade. This new route will greatly improve traffic flow into and out of the downtown area during and after the parade. Several roadways that were closed in previous years, will now remain open, allowing traffic to freely move into and out of downtown, even during the parade.
The parade will be staged on Manatee Avenue between 1st Street W and 9th Street West, and the pre-party “Party in the Plaza” will take place on Manatee Avenue in front of the old courthouse. Manatee Avenue will close at 1:00PM on parade day with westbound Manatee Avenue traffic re-routed at US301/41 via 9th Avenue W. The Green Bridge/9th Street W will remain open throughout the day (until 7pm) for northbound traffic to Palmetto and southbound traffic from Palmetto. Westbound Manatee Avenue traffic will continue on 9th Avenue West to 14th Street W where traffic will be able to turn north to rejoin westbound Manatee Avenue. East bound Manatee Avenue traffic will not be affected during the day.
5:00PM to 11:00PM
FROM WEST BRADENTON – UNTIL 7PM
Take Manatee Avenue/SR64 to 43rd Street W. Turn right at 43rd Street W and continue to 9th Ave W. Turn left onto 9th Avenue W and continue to 3rd Avenue W then turn left at 3rd Avenue W and continue downtown.
FROM SOUTH BRADENTON – UNTIL 7PM
Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather. We work very closely with the city and emergency management personnel to ensure we are receiving the most recent weather updates. The safety of our participants and spectators is our top priority. More than half of the festive floats that are participating in the parade are from the Tampa Bay area, with no over-night accommodations, thus, due to the size, logistics, local and state permitting requirements, it is almost impossible to reschedule.
