The Downtown Holiday Parade announced today that celebrity chef Cat Cora will serve as this year’s Celebrity Grand Marshal for the 58th annual Downtown Holiday Parade. On December 3 at 6:30 p.m., the much anticipated parade will make its way down State Street amidst magnificent marching bands, fabulous floats and spectacular performance groups.

Cat Cora

Presiding over the 2010 parade, Santa Barbara resident Cat Cora is a celebrity chef best known for her featured role as an “Iron Chef” on the Food Network television show Iron Chef America. She is also the author of three cookbooks: Cat Cora’s Kitchen, Cooking From The Hip and her newest book Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist. Cora is the founder of Chefs for Humanity, a group of culinary professionals working to fight hunger, provide food nutrition education, emergency food relief and humanitarian aid worldwide.

As if being a busy mom of four boys all under the age of seven isn’t enough, Cat has numerous exciting endeavors launching in 2011 including programming on Oprah’s new OWN network, her Cat Cora by Starfrit cookware and serve-ware collection and an upcoming line of olive oils, tapenades and sauces created with GAEA, a leader in Mediterranean Greek cuisine.

The parade will also feature the Holiday Prince and Fairy riding in a horse drawn carriage and Santa Claus, the most anticipated appearance of the season, will conclude the festivities.

The parade is FREE and begins at 6:30pm on State at Sola Street and concludes at Cota Street. For more information, contact the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization at (805) 962-2098 ext. 24.

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In 2005, Chef Cat Cora made television history by becoming the first and only female Iron Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America. The mother of four boys has authored three top-selling cookbooks, opened two restaurants in partnerships with Macy’s (CCQ) and Walt Disney World Boardwalk Resort (Kouzzina by Cat Cora), launched her own collection of wines, entitled Coranation, and recently developed an upcoming line of cookware and kitchen gadgets. Cora is the co-host for Disney’s “Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora” and “Hasty Tasty” web series. She is currently shooting a pilot for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) where she travels around the country helping families in need of a healthy lifestyle change.

In 2004, Cora, an avid philanthropist and UNICEF spokesperson, founded Chefs For Humanity in response to the tsunami disaster in Indonesia. This not for profit organization has partnered with Share Our Strength as well as the World Food Programme to provide nutrition education and hunger relief worldwide.

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