Hundreds head downtown for parade
By Kathy Thomson
Winners were chosen in two divisions from among the participants in the 13th annual Lighted Christmas Parade that filled the downtown area with lights last Saturday evening, the Memorial Tree was lit, and Albany Bucks were awarded to those whose tickets were pulled out of the hopper in the drawings for local script.
As in previous years, the rules for the drawings stipulated that “you must be present to win.”
New this year, ticket holders were responsible for putting their own entries into the hopper and there were three sets of drawings, not four, causing a couple of “hiccups” as some retailers and shoppers expected it to be the same as last year.
“We had made a few changes this time from previous years that some people were not aware of,” said Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones. “Next year we will make sure to better publicize all the important drawing information.”
Also different this year was a wine festival at The Blue Duck Winery sponsored by the Texas Forts Trail. About 100 people were in attendance.
Instead of chili at the Aztec, an assortment of menu items were available from food trucks at the Bank Park.
The Aztec was the location of Albany Mainstreet Playhouse’s live performance of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Sales of the 2019 ornaments for the Memorial Tree went well, and all of the small crosses have been purchased.
The Chamber board members and the merchants helped Jones with setting up and taking down after the event.
“The merchants want to send out a great big thank you to all the shoppers,” said Jones.
Parade Details
“The parade was a little shorter this year, but we had some wonderful floats,” said Jones. “We will look at ways to try and get more participation in the future, maybe from churches and other groups. But we want to say a big thank you to the ones who put together fabulous entries this year.”
Winning the Car category was one of the Albany fire trucks, while the top nod in Floats went to Jacey Shack’s entry.
Jones said that people seemed to enjoy the day.
“The crowd was fantastic,” she said. “We had such a great turnout and lots of wonderful compliments and responses. We already have some new ideas for next year to make it bigger and better.”
Santa led the parade on a Humvee, and then stayed after the parade to pose for pictures and double check his lists while visiting with area children.
Pam Davis was the emcee. Judges for the 2019 Lighted Christmas Parade were Amber Boland, Lyn Baker, and Lori Stendell.
Among parade participants were a horsedrawn vehicle, trains, pickups, floats, fire trucks, ATVs, Louann George playing Christmas music on the Fandangle Calliope, sidesaddle ladies, and a helicopter.
Parade Winners
Selected as the top entry in the Car division was the Albany Volunteer Fire Department Truck driven by Paige Thompson. The truck was all decked out in white and blue lights, with an oil field Christmas tree and various inflatables riding on top.
Second place Car went to Donnie Anderson’s toy train. It was draped in lights and had large flashing snowflakes on the engine and the cars. Shawn Sutton served as engineer. Anderson and his grandchildren rode in the cars.
Third place Car was Robert Snyder and the Fandangle Train. The train’s engine, including cow catcher and smoke stack were outlined in white lights, as was the coal car and passenger car. Riding in the car were Snyder’s family members and friends.
The top Float was Jacey Shack’s helicopter, lit up in red, white, and blue, and complete with a couple of passengers including a blow-up Santa.
Second place Float went to Christmas Vacation by the Cody Leech, Nancy Birdwell, and James Musselman families. Multi-colored lights, a couch, and a tree were included in the decorations.
First Financial Bank’s float took third. Riding on the candy cane and multi-colored light decorated mule and the float sporting a Merry Christmas sign were Steve, Susan, Andrew, Ella, David, Graham, and Winifred Waller, Steve Riley, Lennon Lucas, and Casey Estridge.
Scrip Winners
Local store patrons had the opportunity to earn tickets toward the three Christmas scrip drawings that were held throughout the evening.
One thousand dollars in Albany Christmas Bucks was given away to lucky ticket holders.
Money winners were Candi Riley, Liz Walls, Tracy Sullivan, Lacey Anderson, Loree Lee, Ladonna Viertel, Rachel Williams, James Schkade, Lisa Swank, and Dee Balliew.
Avery Simpson and Ginny Ivy were each the lucky owners of two of the winning tickets.
