The 64th Annual Stuart Christmas Parade

My sister Susan and I attended the 64th Annual Stuart Florida Christmas Parade last night. It was a typical small-town parade, with schools, hospitals, non-profits, businesses, and everyone else who wanted to celebrate the start of the holidays taking part. All the street parking was taken when we got close to the parade route, and so we parked at the Cleveland Clinic, the local hospital. As luck would have it, we wound up close to the reviewing stand and had running commentary from the MC throughout the parade. Plus, we easily found a front row spot. We were even in the presence of celebrities, since one of the judges up on the platform was none other than Meghan McRoberts, an evening anchor for the local newscast on WPTV Channel 5 in West Palm Beach. As the floats went by, the MC mentioned that the Democrats were in the parade, both of them, which I thought was pretty funny, not to mention true. And by the way, the float in the photograph on the left celebrates the 100th anniversary of Martin County, where Stuart is located. For some reason, the kids in that boat float are all dressed as pirates. And were pirates part of the area's early history? Beats me. 

The nice thing about the Stuart Christmas parade is that it is just a 15-minute drive from our condo, and there are a number of places to park a mere half block way from East Ocean Boulevard, where the parade takes place. And no less important, it was 75 degrees throughout the parade. As opposed to Dener's Parade of Lights, which has so many people attending that you have to take the light rail downtown, and each year it is always cold as hell. And there are so many people lining the streets that it is difficult to take photographs of the floats unless you arrive hours early, which might result in frostbite. When you leave, everyone in the crowd traveling south heads to one boarding point by the convention center, since all the other stops are closed due to the parade. It is always fun trying to board the same train as what seems like the entire population of the Denver is also trying to board.

The only downside to the Stuart Christmas Parade it that East Ocean Boulevard is not well-lighted, unlike Denver's Parade of Lights, which since it takes place downtown, is almost as bright at night as in the daytime. Which made it hard to take a decent photograph of the parade last night. The only way to get a half decent photo was to photograph only the brightest floats and hope that they stopped moving for a few minutes. I took over 100 photographs last night, with only 4 turning out okay. But still, it was a fun evening. And by the way, for all you folks back in Denver, the annual Parade of Lights is tonight at 6:00. If you go, I hope you like crowds. And be sure to bring a jacket.