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Dazzle Light Parade

Left to right: Ava Tucker, Grace Surprenant, Julianna Desmarais and Isabella Mawson sparkle on the Crossway School float. More photos on page 6. Linda Lemmon photos.

 

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Clockwise from top left: Lexie Brunet and Delaney Canty.  Putnam Bank's Frozen float. Citizens National Bank's Polar express with Frank McNerney, Evan Mailloux and Jacob Mailloux. PHS Band member with lights in her feathered cap. Lilly Anna Smith and miniature horse. Lighted bikes. Teal flamingos. 

 

 

 

 

 

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

Dazzle Light Parade organizer Gary Osbrey said the comment he heard the most, at the finish of this year's parade, was "See you next year."

Osbrey said he stands at the end of the parade and thanks every entry as they finish. He said "first-timers always rave about how big the parade is, the number of spectators and how much fun they had." 

This year's parade, the 13th extravaganza, was blessed with the warmest weather ever. The temperature was 54 degrees before sunset, Osbrey said.

The parade drew some 20,000 spectators and there were more than 130 entries.

Every entry, from tractors, to cars, to trailer "floats," to bikes and dogs, were decked out in bright lights.

Looking back, Osbrey said that the cleanup was even better than it was last year. Last year was the first year of a clean-up effort along the parade route. Bags were given out at the beginning of the parade, all along the parade route and then spectators were urged to clean up around their spots and the bags were collected by a Department of Public Works truck that brought up the rear of the parade.

Osbrey said, "The cleanup was even better than last year with a significant increase in bags collected after the parade and a noticeably cleaner town right after the event."

Always looking to improve the parade, the committee met just after the parade and discussed ways to improve for next year. Osbrey said something that will be worked on is alleviating the bottlenecks which occur in the Grove Street staging area.

"We will keep trying to improve the parade!" he said.