This Anaheim Halloween Parade post shares a beautiful story about majorette JoAn Burdick who was a beloved resident of Anaheim and who enjoyed a long history leading the parade. Her 1958 tarnished trophy-topper, shaped like a high-stepping majorette, was mounted to the parade’s front float in 2025, so she could continue to lead it for many Halloweens to come. JoAn died in 2023.
A lovely reminder that baton twirling history often survives in small, treasured objects.
For more than 100 years, the Anaheim Halloween Parade has carried forward a uniquely American tradition of community celebration. With handmade floats, local volunteers, and majorettes leading the way, it captures a time when baton twirlers were a defining part of parade culture, bringing rhythm, movement, and sparkle to the streets.
