Parade wows those who came out

By John Peters
Editor

Littleton has been home to a Christmas parade for as many years as most folks can recall.

Still, there seemed to be a little something different in this year’s procession.

‘This is the longest parade I’ve seen here in a long time,” one bystander commented while a fire truck rolled by. ‘This one’s been really nice.”

“Right here,” shouted 5-year-old Dady Harris as he collected handfuls of candy thrown from the floats.

Another bystander, Jay Daniel, was here with his mother and his 3-year-old son, Jay Den. He said he remembers the town parades from his childhood and enjoys them even more now that he has a son to bring.

Parade organizers Heidi Hogan and Betty Willis said they began working on the event in August, and they were excited in the days before the parade at the line-up. The one lament they had, according to Heidi, was the fact that only one area church -– St. Joseph’s Catholic in Warrenton -– had signed up. Those fears were never realized, though, because by the time all was said and done there were a number of churches and related organizations in the event.

Up and down Mosby Avenue and Main Street, children waved and scrambled for candy, teens talked and enjoyed watching some of their friends marching in the procession, and adults, took in the sights. Some were recalling the days of their youth and parades gone by, while others were getting a thrill out of watching their kids and grand kids.

The parade included a bevy of floats, a number of local groups marching along the way, Grand Marshal Rep. Lucy Allen and a number of other area politicians, fire trucks, rescue squads, miniature cars, race cars, horses, two local high school bands, and even good old Santa Claus,

The one question voiced was by Jay Daniel, the father sitting next to his son as the parade marched by. A former member of the Northwest High School band, he said when he was in school the band marched in the parade. Although the Warren County High School band, as well as the KIPP Pride High School drum line performed, Northwest elected not to participate.

Still, those in attendance seemed to have a good time, and the organizers were quite pleased.

“You see the smile on my face, don’t you?” Betty Willis said an hour or so after the parade. Stopping in at a local restaurant, she said she was quite pleased with the event. “It was as good as we had hoped,” she said. “I’m very happy.”