I want to open this blog post with an apology. I doubled up on motives here because, yo, the holidays are a little bit crazy and I just don’t have time to go to every one of these awesome local holiday events. I’m sorry.
My dance team (re. passion project) was marching in the City Sidewalks Christmas parade last week and with this event being such a highly attended and well-loved #EventToBeScene, I thought the most efficient use of my time would be to write about the Christmas parade. Yay, Christmas! So here it is. My tips on how to be in a local Christmas Parade.
- Dress in layers.
Especial if your parade is locally based in Texas. There is no telling what the weather will be like. Even if it is almost December…
- Be prepared.
If you need sound, bring at least three different electricity backups. For the second year in a row (with two different speakers mind you) our source of sound was fully charged when I left the house and completely dead 20 minutes before the parade started. It has to be Murphy’s Law.
- Wear comfortable shoes.
Being in a parade sometimes means sitting on a float, sometimes it means walking. We march the parade so that we can dance to our tunes that somehow always refuse to work.Also, when you have a sound emergency you will probably run about 4 miles in 30 minutes trying to find a solution before the parade starts. Which is also another good reason to wear layers.
- Be kind.
I was nearly literally singing the Hallelujah Chorus in thankfulness for the kind people on the St. John’s Episcopal School float for letting us borrow an extension cord and bum off of their generator. Never have I so fully experienced the spirit of Christmas from kind strangers.
- Take pictures.
At least, if you have time to do so. Which I didn’t. We had a successful performance with I made it out with a few team shots but nothing more. So, if you follow the steps above and have time, please take plenty of pictures because there’s not much in the world that is as festive as Christmas lights and Santa suits.
Do you have any tips? I obviously could use a little more foresight myself, as I was completely unable to follow any of the advice above.
If you missed the HSU Spurs in the Christmas parade, we hope that you will come see us next year. I highly recommend this #EventToBeScene as it’s the perfect kickoff to the Christmas season.
Follow Bailey and Scene on Instagram and Twitter. Stay up to date on your local Abilene activities with our #EventsToBeScene series.
@bajaelsol & @AbileneScene
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