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Parade appearance won't prevent llamas from returning to Fallbrook

The llamas which have appeared at the Fallbrook Christmas Parade during each of the past five years made their debut at the more prestigious Tournament of Roses Parade this year, but llama owner Emilio Russi still plans to make the Fallbrook Christmas Parade an annual appearance for his animals.

“That’s a must-do. It’s close to home. We enjoy it,” Russi said.

Russi and his family are members of the Llama Association of Southern California, which on January 1 became the first-ever llama entry in the Rose Parade. The Russi family, who live in Murrieta, had two llama-pulled carts in the parade. Emilio Russi and his son, Ryan, drove one of the carts while Emilio Russi’s wife, Patty, and their daughter, Emily, were in the other cart.

“It was just a real good experience. The Rose Parade people were very willing to have us there,” Emilio Russi said. “They bent over backwards to make sure we had a good experience.”

Emilio Russi grew up in the San Fernando Valley while his wife grew up in Ramona. Patty Russi has lived in Murrieta since 1989 while Emilio Russi moved to that community after the couple’s marriage in 1992. Emily, 12, and Ryan, 10, are lifelong Murrieta residents.

The family purchased their current property in Murrieta in 1998 and acquired llamas shortly afterward. The Russis and their llamas have participated in each Fallbrook Christmas Parade since 2002.

“Carol’s been great,” Emilio Russi said, referring to Carol Eastman of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce. “She’s always taken real good care of us.”

The Fallbrook Christmas Parade lacks the million spectators of the Rose Parade and doesn’t have television coverage, but Russi still compared the Fallbrook parade positively with its Pasadena counterpart. “It’s kind of like a mini-Rose Parade,” he said.

While spectators line both parades for several rows, the fact that Main Avenue in Fallbrook is narrower than Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena brings the entrants and spectators closer to each other. “It’s kind of an intimate parade,” Russi said. “You can interact with the crowd.”

In addition to the Fallbrook Christmas Parade, the Russis participate in Temecula’s Christmas Parade. In 2006 they also rode in the Glendora, Mammoth Lakes, Alpine, and Mother Goose (El Cajon) parades. While the Russis and their llamas have participated in more than 40 parades, they appeared in more parades in 2006 than in the past in order to provide other llama owners with additional parade experience in preparation for the Rose Parade.

The Rose Parade includes helicopters and jet flyovers as well as a 5 1/2-mile route with numerous cheering spectators, but the Pasadena parade wasn’t a major adjustment for the llamas. “If you have animals with parade experience, there really shouldn’t be any issues,” Russi said.

Russi noted that llamas aren’t as spooked by noise as horses are. “Most llamas kind of ignore it,” he said.

The Llama Association of Southern California was accepted as a Rose Parade entry in July, making the 18 participating llamas the first of their species to appear in the Tournament of Roses Parade. Although none of the Russi family members had participated in a previous Rose Parade as an entrant, Emilio Russi had seen 16 previous parades as a spectator.

The llamas were classified as an equestrian unit, although they were kept separate from the horses during parade-related activities and preparation. The Russis attended a December 28 party for the equestrian units at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum and also joined the equestrian groups December 29 for the Equifest at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. The llamas were part of the Equifest exhibit but did not perform at the Equifest. “It just didn’t work out because of some logistical problems,” Russi said.

The llama owners spent the night of December 29 at the Phoenix Decorating Company facility, where they received a two-hour private tour and saw the Phoenix floats in various stages of assembly.

During the night before the parade, most of the equestrian units were staged on a closed-off section of freeway at the end of State Route 134. The llamas and their owners spent the night on Gordon Terrace. “They had us staged away from the horses,” Russi said. “We set up a little mini-village there,” Russi said of the llama staging area. “The neighbors were very accommodating and very interested and very hospitable.”

Gordon Terrace intersects with Waverly Avenue, where the equestrian units enter the parade route onto Orange Grove Avenue. The Llama Association of Southern California was the second equestrian unit in the parade.

Shortly after the parade began, a B-2A stealth bomber and two F-22A Raptor fighter planes flew over Colorado Boulevard. “All of a sudden everybody got all emotional,” Russi said. “It really hit home, though, for us, when we were sitting on Orange Grove waiting.”

The Russis’ only regret about the parade was that the television cameras didn’t spend more time on the equestrian units. Emilio Russi noted that more than 300 roses decorated each of the llama group’s carts.

“It was quite the experience. Some parts of it were almost overwhelming,” Russi said of being in the parade. “It was a very, very good experience all around for everybody.”

Between now and the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade the Russis will participate in the Swallows Day parade in San Juan Capistrano, in which they had participated in 2003. The Russis have also applied to be an entry in the 2007 Hollywood Christmas Parade.

Assuming the continued approval by the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, the Fallbrook Christmas Parade will be among the Russis’ appearances regardless of which Los Angeles County parades accept them. The Russis would like to return to Pasadena in 2008. “We’re looking to hopefully get back in the Rose Parade next year,” Emilio Russi said. “Hopefully the llamas are back next year.”

Ironically, the non-equid group has sparked interest in parade participation from other animal-owning aspirants, which could make a return to the Rose Parade more difficult for the Llama Association of Southern California. “We might have a little bit more competition this year,” Russi said.

 

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