Day 480, The Star Light Holiday Parade

Sister's Oregon and the beautiful Three Sisters mountains.

It was Saturday but it is going to be a long day of work.  I was able to sleep in until 7:30 am which was really nice.  It was a little windy I was worried about some of the vendor tents and if they were staying put. I got up and started gathering everything I was going to need for the parade at 5 pm.  The Holiday Village Market will also be setting up for, day two, which is scheduled from noon to 8 pm.   At 10 am I had gathered all the things I needed and I prepared the Packard to be in the parade too.  

I needed to make a quick run to Sisters and pick up my clock which I had serviced and cleaned.  They had called earlier in the week and notified me that it was ready.  If I didn't go to day it would have to wait until next week.  I love the drive to Sisters and I figured I had just enough time to get there and get back before 11 am, so I could help with set up the Son's of Norway kiosk again.

Santa's ride ready to go.

As the morning unfolded the wind died down and it was a beautiful day.  The temperature was in the high 50's which was a good 10 degrees warmer than yesterday.  The venders were in a good mood and so were the shoppers.  We had a local youth choir singing and they drew a big crowd.  At 3 pm I had to get ready for the parade and we set up the registration at the start of the parade route.

One of the lighted entries.

We had 79 entries for the parade and we estimated it would take about an hour and a half to get them all trough. The good weather and warm temperature had the attendance pushing record numbers and it was estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 people had lined the parade route to view the parade.  Of course the kids were there to gather the free candy.

I had the Packard decorated and I was ready for Santa.  I had removed the back seat of the Packard so Santa could stand and "ho ho ho" at the crowds of people and wave.  I would have 6 kids and Santa in the back and three adults, counting me, in the front.

The parade was amazing, with people pouring into the streets for 7 blocks.  It was official the Holidays were upon us and the previous week of decorating and putting up lights paid off; Redmond looked spectacular.  As I made the last turn at the end of the parade route and headed to the Centennial Park and Holiday Village so Santa could light the tree it became obvious that there was a huge crowd of people packing the park.  The choir was singing and the crowd cheered as Santa arrive to light the tree.

The Village at night at Centennial Park.

Santa got out of his Packard, greeted the crowed and was welcomed by the Mayor.  Santa's trusty elf (me), got the magic switch that lights the tree and handed it to Santa. With a count of five, Santa flipped the switch and the Christmas season was now official here.

I had placed a large wing backed chair from my potting shed, covered it in Christmas table cloth and placed on a red rug, so Santa could sit and greet the children.  Santa gives each one of the candy cane and his trust elf handed each candy cane to Santa as he busily greeted several hundred children.  The event was a huge success the magic of the season was alive.

It had been a great day.  It was sad to see it come to end.  After the clean up I took my two Son's of Norway cohorts out to dinner and we talked about the event from the Lodge stand point.  They felt it was a tremendously successful and where already thinking about next year.

Awesome day!