Augusta Christmas Parade 2022

 

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.”

Dale Evans

About a hundred pounds of stuffed animals

‘Twas the night before the Augusta Christmas parade when all through my house, not a creature was stirring except on elf packing up all the stuffed animals that have been collected over the last three years. My home was overflowing with stuffed animals. I laid out some on my bed and it is hard to see but there are actual layers of stuffed animals on display. Along with stuffed animals, there was a couple bags of donated happy meal gifts, glow sticks, small books, plastic footballs, and glow in the dark throw toys. I love how generous the people of Augusta are. We are thrilled to be finally back in business. This is the first Christmas parade in Augusta since 2019 since the pandemic and then last year it got rained out. We couldn’t be happier it is finally happening.

Crutch, Beth, Birkie, Vince, Joe, Mike

Crutch, Beth, Birkie, Vince, Heather, Mike

The back story of this parade each year is during the year, we try to collect as many donated stuffed animals and candy for the kiddos as possible to give to the children watching the parade. We collect from our neighborhoods and friends. Our hope is to give each and every child a stuffed animal or small gift to love on. You can’t believe how priceless it is seeing a young one get a special stuffed animal, hug it, and proudly show their mom and dad exclaiming “Mom, look what I got.” Both the children and the parents are grateful and will say “Thank you and Merry Christmas.” It will soften even the hardest of hearts. I must give a shout out and thank everyone who donated stuffed animals for this cause. It couldn’t be more appreciated.

We sprang out of bed to get ready for the day. Looking outside we see it is foggy and stormy looking. Joe and I loaded up all our animals and headed to our friends, Birkie and Carol Ayers house to prepare the truck for the parade. As we head downtown we see the low clouds hanging over the city but we are hoping Santa is on our side and keeps the rain away till after the parade. There is much to do before the parade starts. The Olde Town Neighborhood Group was ready to ride on EZ, (firetruck) which is the vehicle that helps us enjoy all these events.

Let the decorating begin

In a flash, we cleaned it up, decorated EZ and the trailer, and Birkie and Weston worked on the batteries getting everything prepared for putting on the lights. Barry came by with the lights to give a hand in making the firetruck and trailer look so festive. Then the trailer was loaded full of toys and in a twinkling, we were ready to head to the parade. It is still stormy looking and just misting a bit. Santa be with us.

Relaxing before the big event

With a twinkle in Birkie’s eyes and a wink, he loaded us up on the truck and we were off to our staging site. We found out that we were the third from the last in the parade and close to Santa Claus who was the last entry. His firetruck arrived playing “Here comes Santa Claus.” The entries were amazing this year with beautiful floats, an amazing Corvette club with about 20 Corvettes, bands from Richmond County, and so much more.

It was nice to see the efforts people put into the floats and decorating their vehicles. It was also nice talking with everyone and seeing how excited they were about being there. Parades are always the best and the Christmas parade if my favorite. This parade was a night parade so seeing all the Christmas lights twinkling on the floats and all along Broad Street was awesome.

Ready for the parade to start

Just after 6 pm, our truck starting slowly moving down Broad Street. The crowds started to build and we soon found out that more people were needed to walk on the side of the truck to hand out stuffed animals and keep the kids away from it. Joe and I jumped down off the truck and went running. This was our first time to walk and give gifts and will not be our last. What a blast.

Our crews proud of our accumulation of stuffed animals. 

 

Bundles of toys were flung in the trailer and now we were ready to start handing these stuffed animals out to kids and watch them light up when they got one. Talk about getting in the Christmas spirit. This was it.

Heather handing out stuffed animals

Walking down through the crowds, child after child got a stuffed animal till our pile of animals was gone. Then more candy went out to the kids as well as glow sticks. Even with all we had collected, we could have used more as we ran out before the end of the parade. Well, there is always next year.

Courtney and Josh

Carol

Beth and Francis

Heather and Joe

Deborah and Birkie

Chuck and Nancy

This is a tradition we have been doing with our friends for years. It is a great way to socialize and donate to the children of Augusta. Carol and Deborah made sandwiches for us, Birkie ordered chicken wings along with chips, and blonde brownies. On the side of the firetruck was a small keg of beer for our group.

Josh and Courtney

Waiting for the parade to begin with all our toys. 

Santa held the rain off and we eternally grateful. We had a lovely evening and went home with a full heart. We missed some of our friends who couldn’t be with us and look forward to next year when they can return. As we headed back to Olde Town, we exclaimed: “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

The Olde Town Crew.  They are the best. 

Till next time. Bye for now.