The county is looking for volunteers to assist with various aspects of the annual Thanksgiving parade this Saturday, Nov. 23.

Volunteers must be at least 13 or older and plan to meet at the civic building, then expect to remain at the parade site from 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Opportunities include dressing up in costumes as elves or pilgrims to ride on floats, as penguins or reindeer to walk in the parade, to walk along and handle balloons and other inflatables, or act as unit leaders.

The parade will start at 10 a.m., rain or shine, at Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street in downtown Silver Spring, then turn south on Georgia Avenue to end at Silver Spring Avenue. Once again, it will broadcast live on NewsChannel 8 and be shown several times in reruns on Thanksgiving Day.

Students of Akhmedova Ballet Academy, Princess Mhoon Dance Institute, and the Maryland Youth Ballet will perform during the parade, and be joined by fourteen marching bands including college, local high school, honor guard bands and internationally themed bands.

In all, more than 100 units are expected to participate on Saturday.

Volunteers can sign up for the parade here.

In addition, attendees can enter an online raffle to win tickets for seating (up to five people) in the grandstand.

Other information about the event, including road closures, parking and more, is available here.

Photo from 2018 parade by Mike Diegel