Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler announced the Marvel Super Heroes will be in Lincoln for the 25th annual Star City Holiday Parade Saturday, December 5 in downtown Lincoln. Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America and the Green Goblin also will use their super powers to promote the city’s “Cleaner Greener Lincoln” initiative.

“This is a great opportunity for the City to celebrate a milestone in parade history and to encourage everyone to participate in our community’s environmental efforts,” Mayor Beutler said. “In addition to the Super Heroes, this year’s parade features more giant balloons and bands than ever before. A great deal of work and community support has gone into making this the best parade in City history, and we hope to see a huge crowd.”

Mayor Beutler and his wife, Judy, will travel the Parade route in a horse-drawn carriage.

This year’s parade theme is “Dreams. Memories. Wishes.” Pre-parade entertainment begins at 9:30 a.m. and the parade begins at 11:00 a.m.

Updowntowners, Inc. produces the parade in conjunction with the City of Lincoln. Deb Johnson, Updowntowners Executive Director, said this is the second year for a new parade route, which begins at 14th and “M” and continues east to Centennial Mall, north to “O” and west to 10th.

The Parade will again be aired live statewide by KOLN-KGIN-TV. The Parade will be re-aired at noon Dec. 7 on My TV, Time Warner Cable channel 110.

A panel of band professionals will judge the bands in competition. All other judging will be done by a panel of children ages 8 through 12. Winners will be announced on the Star City Holiday Parade Web site, www.starcityholidayparade.org.

Parade highlights will include seven giant balloons, 18 marching bands and new floats. Other annual favorites include animal units, clowns, costumed characters, Major Drummond, the Star City Sweets and Rudolph with Bugle the Elf. As usual, Santa and Mrs. Claus will wind up the parade. Children are encouraged to bring their letters to Santa with a return address. U.S. Postal Service employees will pick up the letters during the Parade, and Santa will write back to them before the holidays.

The City is offering free parking for the Parade in its lots and garages, those marked with the green “Park It” signs.

Keep Lincoln and Lancaster County Beautiful is promoting the Parade as litter-free event, and volunteers will be along the Parade route to help collect trash and educate the public on the proper disposal of trash.