Thursday, December 22, 2022

Aiken Hoofbeats and Christmas Carols Parade, South Carolina

 

“Horses make a landscape look beautiful.”

Alice Walker





A good friend of ours said, “You have to come to Aiken to see the Hoofbeats and Christmas Carols Parade. It is a fun parade that I know you will enjoy.” That was all we needed to give it a try since we always love an excuse to head to Aiken, South Carolina and check it out before going to her open house.












Aiken is a lovely town with unique gift shops, candy shops, restaurants, parks, and taverns. Today when we arrived, the town was hopping. Many people were hustling in and out of shops finishing off their Christmas shopping toting large bags full of goodies. There were people sitting at tables outside eating a meal or having a drink before the parade. Yes, it was chilly, but all were dressed warmly and some with blankets over their laps, but all were enjoying a nice day in December. Aiken is known as horse country which makes this such a special parade.












People were lined up on both sides of Laurens Street in their festive Christmas outfits along with their dogs being equally decorated anxiously waiting for the parade to start. Aiken is a dog friendly city and today it really showed. We saw more dogs there than we had ever seen before. Many dogs were fashionably wearing Santa outfits or reindeer antlers. At one point, Joe gave a little whistle to see where I was, and all the dogs in the area watched him go by. He thanked them for their attention.











At 2 pm exactly, the parade started. There were some horse and carriages in the front of the parade all decorated up. Then came the horses. There were some of the most beautiful horses I had ever seen and more than I had ever seen in one spot. They just kept coming. There were Quarter horses, Draft Horses, Saddle bred Horses, miniature horses, and even statues of horses. The owners and horses were dressed to the T’s, and proudly rode past us in style. Some participant were saying “Merry Christmas” or singing Christmas Carols.













The elves - Pooper Scoopers

Pooper Scoopers












At the end of the parade were the dogs. There were quite a few dogs but not as many as the horses. If you added up all the dogs watching the parade though, I’m sure the dogs had the horses beat. Almost 300 horses and 100 dogs had registered for the parade. The last people in the parade were the Elves, aka the pooper scoopers of the parade and got a good ovation as they walked by. Each participant gave a $20 donation for the SPCA, Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare, and the Equine Rescue of Aiken to be in the parade. How wonderful is that.
















The parade went 2 ½ miles and looped back so both sides of Laurens Street got a great view of the parade. This was the 13th year of this parade. It was a hit with all the crowd especially the children. We thoroughly enjoyed this parade and plan on making it part of our Christmas tradition.
























Check out Aiken for Christmas events through out the month of December. They offer so much and this parade was just one of them. It was a very different and fun parade. We had never been to one like it and so enjoyed it. Aiken has some of the most beautiful horses in the world and the nicest horse people.




Till next time. Bye for now.


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