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Since 1926, the Tulsa Christmas Parade has entertained thousands of children and adults year after year as it winds through the historic streets of downtown Tulsa. In its early days, when Tulsa was a new town booming with rapid growth from the recent discovery of oil, the Christmas parade quickly became an annual tradition that has continued to be a favorite event for the past 90 years. Throughout part of its history, the parade has been held at night, and Tulsa and the surrounding communities have come together to put on elaborate, twinkling displays--full of sparkling lights--including floats, marching bands, and large balloons, culminating each year with the guest of honor, Santa himself, making a special trip from the North Pole all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma. This book explores the grandeur and excitement of Tulsa Christmas Parade's history against the backdrop of one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture in the United States.

The Travis Heights neighborhood in Austin, Texas, is comprised of three developments: the Swisher Addition, Fairview Park, and Travis Heights. Each of those three is unique. Fairview Park was designed to be an elegant Victorian suburb. The Swisher Addition developed as a thriving commercial district. The Travis Heights subdivision was the most successful residential development in the area and overshadowed the others. Travis Heights is known for its parks that run the length of the neighborhood. The history of Travis Heights is about the evolution of a neighborhood influenced by location and by its landscape.

Pierre Part and the shores of Belle River were inhabited by Acadian French-speaking people. They learned from their ancestors how to live off the land, and if more was harvested or hunted than their families could eat, they gave the extra food to their neighbors. There, each family resided in a small house, or a cabin'eau in French. It was typically a one-room structure with stakes (pier), walls (bar d'eau), and a shingle roof. Located at one end of the house, a fireplace was made of timber held together with mud and moss. Commonly, the home's frame was constructed of cypress boards, but some people also included cane reeds, palmetto, and shorter cypress boards to make the structure stronger. Some families would relocate from Bayou Lafourche to the swamps of the beautiful Belle River, where they had family or knew someone so that they could trap. When trapping season was over, they would return to their settlement.