Parades light up the holiday weekend

HARLEM VALLEY — With memories of Thanksgiving feasts still fresh on their minds, area residents and visitors looked forward to Christmas over the holiday weekend. The Parade of Lights ceremonies in Millerton and Pine Plains featured Santas, trees ablaze with lights and plenty of jingling bells.

Millerton’s parade was held Friday evening, Nov. 27. Moving from Arnoff Moving and Storage on Route 22 through the village up to the firehouse, parade spectators enjoyed giant inflatable characters, plenty of fire engines and floats and the occasional fist-full of candy as well. And what would the Millerton parade be without the giant tree at the intersection of routes 44 and 22 lit up just as the parade made its way by?

Following the parade, the firehouse was open to the public, and Saint Nick was on hand with his naughty-and-nice list, hearing holiday requests from children while their parents enjoyed refreshments provided by the fire company and local merchants like Taro’s, Talk of the Towne Deli, Four Brothers and Farmer’s Wife in Ancram. McDonald’s also donated plenty of toys for the event.

"The big hit this year was Santa," said fire captain and event co-organizer Mike Humbert. "And the kids were unbelievable. They really came out for Santa this year. Any time you see the kids smiling on the street, that’s what it’s all about for us."

In Pine Plains, the town’s annual Parade of Lights was preceded by Decorating Day, with plenty of free hot chocolate and cookies for all, while residents decorated the town in time for the evening’s procession.

"We’ve got 43 different units," proclaimed town Supervisor Gregg Pulver, identifying floats from his perch on the second-floor balcony of the Stissing House, where he acted as master of ceremonies throughout the parade. The parade started at the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School parking lot, taking a right at the main intersection in town and concluding at the firehouse.

"I’ve been told this is the largest parade ever in the history of Decorating Day!" he added proudly.

Although the parade route was shortened this year, Ibis Guzman from the Pine Plains Business Association said this year’s Decorating Day was a giant success, even if help was down.

There were plenty of people to thank (see Guzman’s letter to the editor for a complete list), but he would love to see more volunteers helping to set up next year.

"It was limited, probably about four or five people," Guzman said. "Imagine decorating almost 90 trees with lights and ribbons, one by one. That’s huge and we really can’t do it alone."

However, "the parade was massive this year," he stressed. "It really went off well and it was awesome to see all the fire companies with everything decked out. And we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help."