Mary Hart, Legendary Entertainment Journalist and Television Icon, Named Celebrity Grand Marshal of 27th Annual Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade!

The City’s signature holiday event, each year the parade brings 100,000 residents and visitors to downtown on the first Saturday in December to celebrate the holidays. This year’s lights spectacular kicks off on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 5:45 p.m. on Palm Canyon Drive at Ramon Road and heads north concluding at Tamarisk. Once again, the parade will be broadcast live on NBC Palm Springs. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. Featuring twinkling floats, magnificent marching bands, huge Macy’s-style holiday balloons and Santa Claus, the parade is a much loved holiday tradition that is not to be missed!

In addition, Hart will serve as the Celebrity Tree Lighter at the Official City of Palm Springs Holiday Tree Lighting on Friday, Dec. 6 in Frances Stevens Park on the corner of Palm Canyon Drive and Alejo Road. The Lighting of the City’s spectacular Holiday Tree takes place at 5:15 p.m. sharp! This year’s event features holiday caroling from the Palm Springs High School Madrigal singers along with holiday craft stations and storytime with Santa. Free cookies and hot cocoa will also be on hand.

Hart, who served as co-host of Entertainment Tonight for an unprecedented 30 years, is a legend in entertainment journalism and listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the longest serving entertainment news host. In 2017, Hart received the Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame in 1999.