By Mark Huard
Central Maine Photography
WATERVILLE — Downtown’s annual Holiday Parade, held the Friday after Thanksgiving, has drawn thousands of families to Main Street for many years, and is the local kickoff to the holiday season.
This year, the Children’s Discovery Museum is adopting the event. The Museum is relocating from Augusta to a large space in Waterville in the spring of 2019.
The 12th annual Parade of Lights will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24. Floats will assemble at the Waterville American Legion parking lot, 21 College Ave. — a new location this year — and travel down Main Street to Castonguay Square, where the tree lighting will be held and Santa Claus will arrive at Kringleville.
Area schools, businesses, churches, organizations and municipalities are invited to participate in the parade by entering a float, marching band, or other appropriate entry, organizers said. The number of floates is limited to 35 this year. All float money raised will support the museum. Floates should be decorated for the holiday and use lots of lights. Organizers also remind those who would enter a float that the official Kringleville Santa Claus, as well as Mrs. Claus, are the Santas allowed in the parade.
The parade is also providing the opportunity for vendors to participate by selling appropriate items, snacks, and drinks to the parade viewers, they said.
Those interested in participating can find a form at www.kringleville.org. It must be returned by Friday, Nov. 3.
Santa Claus hours at Kringleville will be after the parade until 9 p.m., as well as 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in December through the weekend of Dec. 16 and 174 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 20 through Friday, Dec. 22.
