NEW AUBURN — The sidewalks from Riverside Drive to Mill Street Saturday were lined with bundled-up families waiting to see the holiday parade.

New Auburn held its own festival Saturday night with a parade that culminated in the Rolly’s Diner parking lot, complete with Santa pictures, free hot chocolate and a tree lighting.

The New Auburn Holiday Parade featured traditional floats with lights and pine trees. Float themes included holiday camping, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and a woodland creature snow scene.

Police cars and firetrucks led the parade with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

A young girl, sitting on her father’s shoulders, was concerned. “Are they coming to take someone to jail?”

A crew comprised of workers from two Auburn McDonald’s restaurants provided the crowd with free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies to keep away the chill.

“We’ve been out since 3:30,” said Sharon, one of the volunteers. “It’s cold. but actually not as cold as last year.”

There was also a McDonald’s float with people handing out Happy Meal toys to kids in the crowd.

An unfortunate slip-up in traffic control led to a split between the parade floats. A few reached the end, and then some cars drove through.

One woman in the crowd was worried that the parade was over until a few more floats passed. 

“That would’ve been seriously disappointing,” she said.

Eventually, all of the floats made it to their final destination of Rolly’s Diner.

Alabama’s BBQ had a dancing pig float, which made most of the crowd chuckle at the cruel irony. They also provided festive music for the event.

After the parade, families lined up to take pictures with Santa after he ceremoniously lit the Christmas tree, which can be seen on the corner of Mill Street.

A woman with her two kids was upset they had missed the parade, but the kids were very excited to meet Santa.