photo by Jessica St. James

St. Nicholas waves to his fans atop of bight red Thunderbird as he makes his way down Third Street Monday during the annual Ironton Lions Club Christmas Parade.

A Holiday Tradition

Lions Club parade brings out kid in all

By Benita Heath | The Tribune

Published Tuesday, December 1, 2009

It was a perfect night for a parade — cold, crisp and clear. And it seemed as if all of Ironton turned out Monday night for the city’s annual holiday tradition: The Lions Club Christmas Parade.

Right at the stroke of 6, they set off from Railroad Street heading for downtown. There were marching bands, crazy cars, floats, baton twirlers and dancers. Along Second and Third streets wide-eyed children snuggled up with their parents and cheered, grabbed for bubble gum and seemed entranced by what they saw.

There were floats from the Purple Heart organization, Morning Pointe Ridge, and Cyndi’s Dance Studio.

There were even some solo marchers without any affiliation other than wanting to participate.

Like Tianna Wilson, 6, of Coal Grove, dressed up like a Christmas package, complete with ribbons in her hair, marching along side Brooke Fradd, 7, of South Point, garbed in a snow princess outfit, all downy white and gold.

Sabella Malone, 8, of Rock Hill, was one of members of the Rock Hill Brownie Troop who joined in the parade this year for the first time, with their leader Kerry Simpson.

“The girls thought it would be fun to march and throw candy,” Simpson said.

Sabella was taking in all the excitement of the pre-parade run-down, watching bands practice and cheerleaders do cartwheels down the streets.

“It is really cool. I love it. It is so amazing,” she said. “It is big and cool and you get to throw candy and you can eat it too.”

Taylor Reber of Dawson-Bryant High School’s color guard is a veteran of the parade, but it still is something she enjoys.

“It’s all the joy in all the little kids’ faces,” Reber said.

And Mike Zornes of the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department wouldn’t say how long it took for him to get into the miniature fire truck he was driving in the parade, or even quite how he did it. But participating year after year is a tradition for the fire fighters.

“Christmas is for kids. This is for kids,” Zornes said. “And we are all kids. We are just older kids.”

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