PARIS — Santa arrived in style Saturday morning, gyrating from the waist up with Mrs. Claus to rollicking music and waving to crowds lining Main Street during Maine’s largest holiday parade.
They were seated in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer atop a float during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade.
About an hour prior to its 11 a.m. start, hundreds of families and people of all ages began lining the 2-mile parade route from Market Square in South Paris to Advertiser Square in Norway.
While waiting for the parade to begin, those in front of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School parking lot basked in sunshine that poked through overcast skies.
The temperature reading on the Northeast Bank sign climbed from 49 to 55 degrees by 11:30 a.m. as the parade reached McDonald’s restaurant.
Jacketed children wearing reindeer antlers atop their heads pranced in the bank parking lot as firetruck sirens wailed louder and louder.
And then the entourage arrived, led by two police cruisers and a color guard bearing American and Maine flags.
They were followed by Wreaths Across America vehicles and two tractor-trailers bearing the wreaths that will be placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Dec. 10.
Next came many firetrucks from the area, drivers all sounding air horns and sirens, and floats bearing children, adults and animals, all decorated to fit the theme of “An Old-Fashioned Christmas.”
The Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School marching band performed Christmas carols, to the crowd’s delight. The band was followed by the Babbling Brook Quilt Shop, which took first place for small businesses, according to the banner carried by adults dressed in fine clothing.
Among the many other parade participants were women on roller skates, a band made up of young children seated on a Bancroft Contracting Corp. tractor-trailer flatbed, miniature horse teams pulling carriages and a sleigh from Roundabout Farm Miniature Horses in Buckfield, Mr. and Mrs. Claus and Santa’s elves.
Santa was the main draw for 2-year-old Tessa Colby of Waterford, mom Nicole Cleveland said.
“She wants Santa,” Cleveland said. “I guess she likes him.”
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- Santa and Mrs. Claus wave to families lining Main Street in downtown Norway on Saturday morning during Maine’s largest holiday parade. The theme of this year’s Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade was “An Old-Fashioned Christmas.”
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- Dawn, a 5-year-old miniature horse of Roundabout Farm Miniature Horses in Buckfield pulls Lorna DeWitt and her 6-year-old nephew, T. J. Koskella, both of Buckfield, in a sleigh down Main Street on Saturday morning during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade in Paris.
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- A band performs on a Bancroft Contracting Corp. tractor-trailer flatbed on Saturday morning during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade on Main Street in Paris.
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- A parade participant’s pooch is more interested in children lining Main Street in Paris than in walking to Norway during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade on Saturday.
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- Tessa Colby, 2, and Nicole Cleveland of Waterford wave at Santa and Mrs. Claus as they pass by on Saturday morning during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade on Main Street in Norway.
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- Betina Ethridge, left, and daughters, Shaylee, 6, and Kalyanna, 3, and Logan Cromwell, all of Poland, smile at Santa and Mrs. Claus as they pass on their way down Main Street to Norway.
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- Women from Roundabout Farm Miniature Horses of Buckfield wave at the crowd lining Main Street on Saturday morning during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade in Paris.
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- A giant New Balance shoe strolls down Main Street in Paris during the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade on Saturday.
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