Photos by Ed McMinn
By Ed McMinn, News Messenger editor
One thing can be said with certainty about the folks in Christiansburg: They can throw one heck of a parade.
They did just that Friday night with “Christmas on Main,” a parade with so many entries it required an hour to pass by the reviewing stand where one parade marshal estimated the parade had “at least 150 entries.”
The parade left the starting gate at 7 p.m. on the heels of the lighting of the downtown Christmas tree at 6:50 p.m. It featured a little bit of everything and a whole lot of something: big old noisy fire trucks from Christiansburg, Shawsville, and Riner, minions, the Grinch, marching bands from Christiansburg and Eastern Montgomery high schools, cadets marching in formation, floats, beauty queens, ballerinas, dogs, horses (which for obvious reasons were among the final units in the parade), a costumed alligator, a bus from the Pulaski river Turtles baseball team, tractors, motorcycles, muscle cars, pickup trucks bedecked in Christmas lights, golf carts, and a big pink pig.
As is traditional, the highlight of the parade came at the very end when Santa Claus put in an appearance. To add to the fun, good samaritans handed out candy to children standing on the sidelines watching the parade on this chilly night.
