This is not a scientific assessment, by any means, but we just have the best Christmas parades. And the public gets it.
Even on a chilly night this past week, lots of folks turned out to watch close to an hour’s worth of bands, floats, fire trucks, dancers and more bands.
Let’s just get this out of the way. Those dancers are pretty incredible. How do they keep dancing and marching that long? And keep doing it in unison and with such flair? It’s good to be limber — and young!
Then the bands. There are high school bands that are, no offense, really nice appetizers, but it’s hard not to look beyond them to the granddaddy band in this part of the world, UAPB’s band M4, or the Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South. Even the name gets one in the mood for some serious swaying and head bobbing.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I haven’t seen them yet, but I love their band,” said one attendee. Another said their son plays the snare drum for M4.
“We’re really out here to see him, but any time we can have family time is always a good time,” one proud parent said.
If you are a bit slow to get into the Christmas spirit, the city will help you along. There’s the parade, but also the huge Christmas tree, now located over by the Pine Bluff Civic Center. And no one can miss the city’s gussied up fire engine that has been totally tricked out with holiday lights and a loud sound system that plays nonstop Christmas music. If that doesn’t get your attention, the engine’s siren will as it approaches with Santa aboard.
The engine dropped by a church last week, and a few people had a bit of a start, thinking, well, thinking there was a fire somewhere. Nope, to the even louder glee of the youngsters, it was the rockin’ Christmas engine, followed by another fire truck for good measure.
The weather is also cooperating: cold enough to put one in the Christmas mood but not so cold as to keep one holed up at home, and not so warm that one might as well be in the Florida Keys wearing flip flops.
Oh, and don’t forget the holiday lights in Regional Park — the Enchanted Land of Lights and Legends — which has more than 200 displays — and you don’t even have to leave your car to enjoy them.
Parades – certainly not the parades that we have – don’t just happen by themselves, so kudos to those who once again put this winning event together and for putting the whole town in the Christmas spirit.