CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — This annual Community Christmas Parade is something the Corpus Christi ESD #2 Fire Station prepares for year round, and this Christmas, they're ahead of schedule.
"It's done, we are two weeks ahead of schedule. So we are ready for Sunday night's kick off and the guys are well rested and ready to go," Fire Chief Dale Scott.
Each year the firefighters give out 8,500 to 9,500 bags of candy.
This year, they raised over $7,000 through donations, from campaigns like fill the boot and letter writing, in order to get enough candy.
Firefighters typically spend about eight hours a day bagging candy, but this year social media helped cut down the time.
"This year, we actually set a record with bagging. We put out a deal to the community on Facebook that we need help, and what takes us normally three weeks was done in two and a half days," said Scott.
Last year over 8,600 kids came to see the fire fighters big Christmas parade, and this year, they're prepared for even more.
In fact, this eight day long parade has grown so popular, this time around, they've had to extend their hours.
"We actually added half an hour so we're doing three and a half hours this year each night," said Scott.
Some nights, these firefighters will walk through as many as 65 streets in one day. They say, it's a tradition that's worth the work.
The parade goes from 5:30 to 9pm and covers Padre Island, the Naval Air Station, and Flour Bluff. The firefighters will kick off their eight day parade on the eighth, and will begin on the Island.