The Comerica Bank New Year’s Parade is presented by the J. Curtis Sanford Parade Committee, an all-volunteer Texas non-profit corporation. The parade committee is named in memory of Dallas oilman J. Curtis Sanford, who founded the Cotton Bowl in 1936 as a private enterprise and personally covered expenses for the first game on Jan. 1, 1937. Sanford envisioned a New Year’s Texas spectacle that would showcase Dallas across the country. Early doubters during the Great Depression dubbed the Cotton Bowl as “Sanford’s Folly”, but time has vindicated Mr. Sanford’s dream. The Comerica Bank New Year’s Parade continues J. Curtis Sanford’s legacy of a family-friendly holiday celebration in Big D.