Juice Bowl 2023 kicks off with a first-ever parade

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The Juice Bowl is about a lot more than football.

It is a Thanksgiving tradition that started seven decades ago, give or take a year or two. This year, six teams will take the field at Shawnee Park and hundreds will cheer them on.

And for the first time, there will be a parade.

“I hope we see plenty of people,” District 5 Metro Councilwoman Donna Purvis said. “I am so excited about this. I mean, the first ever parade. They used to have a motorcade, but they never really had a parade.”

Purvis said the parade stars at 9 a.m. and will follow Southwestern Parkway to Shawnee Park where kickoff for the first of three games will be at 10:30.

The Juice Bowl’s enduring popularity is a tribute to the surrounding neighborhoods.

What started as a holiday pickup game between friends has turned into a family reunion for the entire community.

“I say the fellowship. The positivity out of it ‚” Juice Bowl board member Robert Martin said. “The family reunion, guys you haven’t seen in forever. People go their separate ways through the year but, that one time, Thanksgiving, everybody comes together. And it’s just fun. It’s fun family love.”

Board member Waddell Elliott played in the Juice Bowl in the 1980s.

Today he and Martin work to keep the memories and the legacy alive. The players taking the field this year, could well be the ones running the show decades from now. “And one day I’m going to be gone, Robert’s going to be gone,” Elliott said. “They (today’s players) are going to be down here putting this thing on, carrying on the tradition. So, we just thank God, and we do what we can do to keep it rolling.”

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