Burbank Blowout : The city pulls out the stops for its annual parade and festival.

Families from throughout the Valley may want to join the thousands of Burbank folks who turn out annually for the Burbank Family Fun Festival and Burbank on Parade.

The grand marshal of the parade, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, will be a Burbank hometown hero, Bill Jensen, the firefighter who has made a dramatic recovery from injuries incurred fighting the Calabasas/Malibu wildfire in October.

Festival spokeswoman Joanne Miller says the parade of bands, floats and more along Olive Avenue between Lincoln and Lomita streets will last two hours. The theme this year is “A Salute to Pioneers of Burbank.”

Those who attend the parade Saturday can follow the final floats right into Izay Park, where the parade ends, and enjoy the rides, games and food at the festival, which runs Friday through Sunday.

There, they will find a Ferris wheel, miniature roller coaster and fun house, plus game booths and a petting zoo.

The prizes at one booth, sponsored by the operator of the AMC Theaters in Burbank, will be movie memorabilia, such as posters and hats, donated by local studios. (Such gestures by civic-minded local businesses make one grateful to live in an area with industrial zones that can accurately be named, for instance, Media Center, rather than Cannery Row or Slag Gulch.)

A roster of local singing and dancing groups will provide entertainment at the carnival, including Millennium Soul, Touchstone, a Sweet Adelines quartet, Burbank High’s jazz group, Country Knights, Mexico Azteca, and Tripod--a hearing-impaired children’s musical group signing, in chorus, to music.

This annual celebration, sponsored by the Burbank Sunrise Rotary Club and Burbank on Parade Inc., has become so popular that it’s become necessary to organize a system for off-site parking at Olive Avenue and Mariposa Street. Free shuttles will run to Izay Park from lots at nearby Burroughs High School, Jordan Middle School and the Burbank School District Facility on Buena Vista at Verdugo Avenue.

BE THERE

Burbank Family Fun Festival at George Izay Park, 1111 W. Olive Ave. Burbank. Fri., 4-10 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-8 p.m. $2, kids under 5 and seniors free. (818) 843-5751.

The parade begins at 11 a.m. Sat. along Olive Avenue, from Lincoln to Lomita streets and ending at Izay Park. (818) 841-2791.