|
 Everyone was in a jovial mood and while waiting
for the parade to begin, dozens were seen walking around admiring
the trees of the Winter Wonderland on the courthouse lawn. Many
others were seen cupping warm drinks in their hands from Guest House
as they waited.
Kids were out in full force, most of them donned with large bags,
prepared to receive all the candy and goodies that they knew would
be a part of the parade procession.
This is a county election year, so there were several local
candidates in the parade along with State Representative Tim Butler
who is running for re-election this year as well.
Our Miss Logan County Fair Queen Skye Kretzinger was there dressed
appropriately in a lovely red gown riding in a red convertible and
threatening to steal the show from our local Santa when it came to
spreading Christmas cheer. Later in the evening, she would make a
stop at the Logan County Tourism Bureau Depot and would take her
turn as whispering wishes in Santa’s ear.
This year’s Grand Marshal was Mary Kelley. Kelly is the Logan County
Circuit Clerk and has announced that she is not going to be running
for re-election. In addition to working for the county since her
teenage years, Kelly has been a great community supporter.
Sounds of Christmas was the theme for this year’s parade. Entries
were encouraged to base their floats on their favorite Christmas
music. As floats, vehicles and walkers paraded around the square it
was clear that all took the suggestion to heart as music filled the
air and floats reflected scenes from those favorite songs.
This year, there were several wonderful entries and the judges were
hard put to pick one winner. In one category they just couldn’t do
it and declared a tie for the Best Theme Representation between
Castle Manor/St. Clara's Rehab & Senior Care and Lincoln College. Other
winners included Girl Scout Troop 6453, winning the Tourism Choice
category. The best float was that of Heritage (Welch) Packaging, and
Zion Lutheran Church won the award for the Best Choir.
Of course a parade wouldn’t be a parade without
plenty of fire trucks. This year there were numerous trucks in the
parade, most of them carrying special people such as members of the
Lincoln City Council and groups of local children involved in
scouting around the area.
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Another fun entry was that of the Heritage in Flight
Museum located at the Logan County Airport. This year in addition to
the magnificent spot light, the group put together a flight float
that featured a youngster riding in the children’s flight simulator
that is such a popular attraction at the museum.
And, as is always the case, Santa himself arrived to bring up the
end of the parade. Riding with Mrs. Claus and some other young
guests, he waved, laughed, and called out greetings to children as
he passed by, enticing all the good little girls and boys to follow
him to the Tourism Depot for a sit-down chat about their Christmas
wishes.
With the Depot filled wall-to-wall with families, the bureau
provided hot cocoa and cookies for everyone as they waited their
turn to see Santa. Many also took advantage of time to check out the
gingerbread house displays and vote for their favorite.
This year was perhaps one of the largest runouts ever for visits
with Santa, and the jolly man in red appeared to be enjoying every
minute of it. There were lots of hugs for Santa, lots of laughs and
all-in-all the atmosphere was about as jolly as it could get.
In addition to visits with Santa, Mrs. Claus was busy handing out
newly knitted winter hats to the children. These hats have become a
Mrs. Claus tradition, implemented first by her mother a few years
back.
This was truly a great year for the Lincoln Christmas Parade and it
appeared that everyone went home happy and glad that they had come
to town to be a part of the annual tradition.
[Nila Smith] |
