Ocala.com Bloggers
- Broken News
- Bill Thompson
- Digital Editor
- Eric Barnes
- Frame 37
- Ocala.com Multimedia
- Marion Politics
- Newsroom
- Observations
- Naseem S. Miller
- OcalaDay
- Joe Byrnes
- Read My E-Mail
- Allen Parson
- Running Wide Open
- Joe Vanhoose
- Speaking of Business...
- Dr. Philip R. Geist
- The Bowling Blog
- Debbie Whitten
- The Green Zone
- Dave Rhea
- The Sports Blog
- Gregory Broome
- What is that?
- Newsroom
 |
Search Blogs
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Blog Archives
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you, parade volunteers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
 |
| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
12/7/2006 6:18 AM |
Eight-year-old Mary Kenney, of Belleview, may have made the difference.
On Saturday morning, she prayed for no rain.
"Sprinkles are OK," she said from the golf cart she was riding in that afternoon with her dad at the McPherson Governmental Complex. She got her wish that evening, as the Ocala Christmas Parade glimmered, wailed, wheeled, skateboarded, marched, trotted and danced down East Silver Springs Boulevard.
About 137 units filed by in cloudy, 66-degree weather.
Phyllis Hamm, Sue Mosley, William Taylor, Brad Smith and all the other hardworking parade organizers got their wish, too, as did city and county workers.
Their wish? To bring holiday cheer to people in and around Marion County, especially the children.
The parade began at sunset, and darkness quickly settled over the field at McPherson. From Southeast 25th Avenue, where school bands stood waiting and playing occasional melodies, I gazed out at the floats in the field. They looked like dozens of houses gorgeously decorated in Christmas lights.
Many were still parked, awaiting their turns, while others were lined up to merge into the parade.
The Shores Christian Academy float -- a live manger scene, with three Magi, an angel, Christ child, Mary, Joseph, shepherd, donkey, cow and several sheep -- was already in line.
Fifth-grader Alyssa Soto, dressed as the donkey, was excited about the parade.
"It's pretty fun because most people think the donkey is a big deal," she said, seated in the hay a few feet from the manger. Her job was to wave and keep smiling.
At first she was nervous, Alyssa said, because a teacher told her there would be thousands spectators along the parade route.
Indeed there were -- perhaps as many as 60,000.
But Alyssa felt good as the parade got started. "Now that I have Victoria with me," she said, turning to her friend in the cow costume. "She's helping me out and stuff."
"Moo," said Victoria, staying in character, I suppose.
Pam Grahling, who works in the school office, said it's the academy's fourth year in the parade. They are focusing on the real meaning of Christmas.
"Just the experience of seeing the kids' faces on the side of the road. There's no words to describe that," Grahling said. "That's why we do it."
By Wednesday, if not earlier, people had started staking out spaces on the curbs.
Lenny Sofsky, for one, noticed that a company had claimed a stretch along Northeast 25th Avenue just south of the boulevard, near his family's favorite spot.
That was Wednesday as he was driving his 13-year-old son to a postseason football practice. He was back that night to claim their place with a fence of candy canes and white twine.
There would be folding chairs and blankets for family and friends, especially those of his 2-year-old daughter, Timberlyn.
"We love to come up here and see the parade," he said Saturday afternoon before the crowds arrived. "I've been in it. My kids have been in it. . . . It's just a good family tradition."
This tradition -- like the Belleview Christmas Parade -- continues only because of many dedicated volunteers.
In 2003, the Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce handed the Ocala parade off to the nonprofit Friends of the Christmas Parade.
We owe them a thank you -- and a Happy Holidays! -- for keeping this wonderful event alive.
Joe Byrnes may be reached at joe@ocala.com or (352) 867-4112.
|
|
| Permalink |
Trackback |
|
|
|
|