On Friday, the 56th annual Downtown Holiday Parade lit up State Street with a “Fairytale Fantasy.”

The parade, sponsored by the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization, featured nearly 80 entries and more than 2,600 participants that included marching bands, floats, performance groups, the Holiday Prince & Fairy, Grand Marshals Scrooge and Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol coming to The Granada Theatre, Celebrity Grand Marshal and actor Brian Baumgartner and, of course, Santa Claus.

With more than 50,000 spectators, it was a spectacular holiday community event.

The 2008 parade winners are:

» Most Theme Oriented — Grand Prize: Girl Scouts Costa De Oro

» Most Creative: Santa Barbara Holiday Lights

» Most Spirited: Goleta Valley Girls Softball Association

» Best Performance Group: Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Pipe and Drum Corps

» Best Senior High School Band: San Marcos High School

» Best Junior High School Band: La Colina Junior High School

» Best Elementary School Band: Santa Barbara Elementary School

» Best Drill Team: Santa Barbara High School Cheer and Song Team.

Southern California Edison donated the Community Holiday Tree, and the city’s Public Works crew installed it at State and Victoria streets.

Next year’s parade is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4. For more information, call the Downtown Organization at 805.962.2098, ext. 24.

Mary Lynn Harms is marketing director of the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization.