This year’s Torchlight Parade that starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on First Street has an unusual grand marshal — the Benicia Old Town Theatre Group.

BOTTG President Dan Clark said this may be the first time an organization, rather than an individual or couple, has been the parade’s grand marshal.

It was an apt choice.

The theater company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a span during which it has produced nearly 100 shows, many of them award winners.

Normally, this would be a year of celebrating success, but it’s been a bittersweet period for the company, which learned last year that its bank accounts had been emptied and its treasurer accused of embezzlement in a case that still remains in the courts.

“The city has stuck by us in the really tough times,” Clark said. So has the community at large, which has offered its support to help the theater company regain its financial feet.

The group’s selection as Torchlight Parade grand marshal is just one example of that encouragement, Clark said.

And it gives the BOTTG board and members a chance to smile and wave to the parade watchers who will line the sidewalks, wave and cheer in response.

The parade itself is a collection of dancers, floats, community organizations and gleaming vintage and decorated cars.

They will assemble at First and D streets, then travel south the length of First Street to end at City Park.

Among the dignitaries scheduled to appear in the parade will be U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, Benicia’s member of the House, and the newly arrived delegation from Benicia’s sister city, Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, who have come here in part to participate in the city’s Independence Day events.

The Torchlight Parade opens Benicia’s two-day Independence Day activities that continue July 4 with the Picnic in the Park in City Park and conclude with a fireworks display at the foot of First Street. Benicia Main Street organizes the events on behalf of the city, which cosponsors the fireworks show along with Main Street.

The parade’s history dates to the late 1800s to early 1900s, when Benicia’s volunteer fire department was in charge of the event.

In that era, torches were used to illuminate the parade, because it predated the city’s streetlights. The torches gave the parade a name that has has been kept in modern times.

The parade fell out of fashion for a time, but was revived in 1975 when much of the country was preparing for the national bicentennial that would be celebrated the next year. Instead of a night parade, it was rescheduled for the afternoon, and set every July 3 so residents could participate in July 4 parades in neighboring cities.

That tradition was continued after the bicentennial year, allowing Benicia to mark the nation’s founding in a two-day celebration.

Benicians and visitors will gather at City Park, First Street and Military West at noon Friday for the annual Picnic in the Park.

Hot food, live entertainment, an open-air market and children’s activities, including a climbing wall, train rides and inflatables, will be at the park until 7 p.m. Friday. Tony Turner will perform “The Star Spangled Banner” at noon to start the picnic, and Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will give a welcome address.

Dancers from Susie Harper School of Dance will entertain at 1:20 p.m., after which Pocket Watch performs at 2:30 p.m., and Tin Man takes at 5 p.m.

The city’s fireworks display will begin about 9 p.m. Friday at the bottom, or south end, of First Street.