Holiday season begins

A huge parade – 91 floats in all – will snake through downtown Waynesboro on Saturday, ushering in the Christmas season and giving onlookers a sense of what goes on behind the scenes at the North Pole. This year’s theme is “Santa’s Workshop,” and parade participants have been asked to picture the yearly elfin enterprise that turns out cookies, toys, trees and mittens in their floats and costumes, said Bruce Payne, superintendent of recreation for the Waynesboro Parks and Recreation Department. Payne said the 91-piece spectacle is quite a bit larger than last year’s parade, which marched 79 different commercial and non-profit entries down Arch, Main, Market and 11th streets in Waynesboro’s downtown.

The parade begins at 7 p.m., and Payne anticipates it will keep folks entertained until about 9:30 p.m., when Santa brings up the rear atop a Waynesboro Fire Department tower truck.

Payne was especially pleased with the Grand Marshalls this year. Members of Waynesboro’s Challenger Baseball League have the honor of leading their friends and neighbors in this wintry celebration.

“We’re just thrilled,” said Mary Moomaw, who works with the Challenger League each spring and summer.

The Challenger League serves girls and boys, ages 5 to 19, who have physical or mental challenges, giving them a chance to enjoy competing in the country’s favorite sport, baseball, each spring and summer.

“It’s our favorite time of the year,” Moomaw said, “We look forward to it all year, and so do the kids.”

The League arranges competition for 30 or so young people from Staunton and Augusta County as well as Waynesboro. Moomaw anticipates that 20 League members will take their position at the helm Saturday, looking forward to a mid-winter visit with their warm-weather compatriots.

“We’re like one big family,” Moomaw said.

In between the Challengers and Santa, antique cars will roll, ponies will trot, motorcycles will roar, and every type of commercial and non-commercial float will use this civic event to advertise their Christmas offerings, year-round services, or special interest. On the ground, majorettes will twirl and bands will march. The best of each type of entry will receive a trophy after passing the judges’ stand.

Payne said it’s important to arrive early for a good parking place, and this is good advice, especially for families with small children who may have trouble seeing above the crowd. The parade route and side streets up to a block away will be blockaded beginning at about 5:30 p.m., Payne said.

The weather won’t necessarily cancel the parade, he said. The decision will be made depending on the specific conditions. Those concerned can call 946-3300 for information.

Shirley Brown, of Avante Health and Rehabilitation Center, has a strategy for making sure Avante’s residents are protected from the cold when they take their position in Saturday’s parade.

“We decided to decorate our wheelchair van rather than a float,” she said. Brown, Avante’s community relations director, is erecting a workshop scene on top of the van, so residents can stay warm inside. With the help of staff and residents, reindeer, elves and a sleigh will be hoisted on top of the vehicle. Brown said Avante enters the parade as a gesture of community goodwill but mostly because it’s so much fun for the people who participate.

In all the Santa’s workshop replicas, a key element will be missing. No Santa will appear until the end.

“That’s because there’s only one Santa, and we’ve got him,” said Payne.