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People's Christmas Parade exceeds organizers' expectations, draws big crowd - The Owensboro Times

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People of all ages lined each side of 2nd Street and braved a brisk wind on a chilly Saturday afternoon, smiling and cheering as they took in the community-led People’s Christmas Parade. Organizers said it went even better than expected, and it proved that people uniting for a common goal can make something happen.

The parade featured more than 50 entries — from traditional looking floats to a garbage truck decked out top to bottom in lights, plus Santa as the anchor. Children eagerly stood along the sidewalks, ready to collect candy that was tossed their way.

Not too shabby for a parade that was thrown together over the last month by a small group with little experience planning big events. 

“I’m gonna be honest with you, it went better than I thought it would just because like it was so beautiful, with all of the lights and all of the people, all of the kids on the floats,” said Erich Stranger, Social Media and Secondary Lead Coordinator for the parade committee. “I expected it to be good. I just didn’t expect it to be this good. I was actually blown away by how everything looked, and I’m so appreciative of everybody that came together to pull this off. I think that it was really great for the community.”

The committee has largely been relying on their Facebook group for feedback and to gauge interest from the community regarding different aspects of the parade. While those involved with the float were active in the group, Stranger said they didn’t know quite what to expect from the crowd.

“There’s a lot more people here than what actually signed up for the Facebook event,” he said. “So it was really great. A lot more people showed up than I actually expected because it is kind of cold out here. Luckily, there was no rain. I think that that helped a whole lot.”

By 10 p.m. Saturday, the Owensboro Times Facebook Live video of the parade had garnered more than 13,000 views. (Watch here.)

Stranger said they put on the parade for everyone in the community, but having something special for the children was a driving factor. Though many were already visibly enjoying the parade, their faces lit up even more as Santa passed them by.

“I loved watching them go after the candy. I love them smiling and waving, and they were so excited about all the different floats and everything,” Stranger said. “And I love seeing the kids on the floats themselves.”

As he was still taking in the success of the parade while it was wrapping up, Stranger also addressed the bigger picture of what the committee was able to do.

“I think it’s amazing,” he said. “I would encourage everybody in the community to pay attention to what just happened here. Because we as people just kind of generally assume that there’s always this group that’s always in charge of everything. They decide whether or not an event happens. We don’t need these people to tell us what can and cannot happen. No offense to the original committee that canceled the parade. I understand what happened there, but that doesn’t mean that things can still happen.”

He continued, “My big thing is, I’ve said this all the time, but everybody said there’s nothing to do in Owensboro. Well, sometimes you just gotta go out there and look because there are things to do and sometimes you gotta create your own things. And that’s what we did right here, is we all came together and we created something that I think was fabulous.”

The committee who helped put the parade together includes:

Tricia Shyver – Lead Coordinator

Erich Stranger – Social Media and Secondary Lead

Sarah Keller Barnes – Registration Coordinator

Payton Ford – Graphic and Design

Tara Ford – Contact Coordinator 

Olivia Miller – Finances

James Payton – Volunteer Coordinator

Emma Thomson – Social Media and Minutes

Sandy Deyton – Small Business Coordinator

Lisa Aull – Food Truck Coordinator Karina Phillips – Street Team

JD Warfield – Street Team

Barbie Korfhage – Street Team

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People's Christmas Parade exceeds organizers' expectations, draws big crowd - The Owensboro Times
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