Wind doesn't dim Festival of Lights parade

Floats include musical trees, singing toilets

By Jeremy Fugleberg, Journal staff | Sunday, November 30, 2008

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For 2-year-old Kendra Ruppert, the 11th annual Festival of Lights parade was all about the characters featured near the end of the show.

"Santa Claus," she said. "And the green guy, too."

The Grinch, the green storybook character, found himself locked away by the U.S. Marshals Service Posse near the end of the parade.

Despite brisk temperatures and a sharp wind, Kendra and thousands of others gathered Saturday night in downtown Rapid City to enjoy the parade, which featured 76 floats festooned with electric lights.

Some crowd member's favorites included the Northwest Pipe Fittings' singing toilets float and the Green Tree float featuring musical trees.

On the corner of Main Street and Second Avenue, Jan Wipf said the parades get better every year -- but this one seemed a bit short.

"They went by so fast," she said.

It might have been the chilly weather. Temperatures hovered in the low 40s, but a 15 mph wind made it feel 10 degrees cooler.

"A lot of you had issues tonight," parade co-chairwoman Carol Brown told the float builders at the award ceremony after the parade. "How about that wind?"

The wind attacked the R.C.S. Construction float, which featured snow blowing and a tree with ornaments. That earned the float the jinx award, given to the float that suffered through a rough day.

"The wind basically wiped them out," parade co-chairwoman Sue McCormick said.

Some attendees said the attendance seemed smaller than in past years and wondered if the wind kept more people from turning out. Organizers had expected about 30,000 people to attend downtown. McCormick said many chose to keep warm inside cars and pickups while watching the event, which made for the appearance of a slimmer crowd.

"They were just more hidden and inside their cars," she said. "We are very pleased with the numbers that turned out."

While several vendors hawked popcorn, hot dogs and hot chocolate along the route, the hole-in-the-wall Dogster's Chicago Style Grub, at 25 Main St., served as a warm haven for hungry parade-goers. The restaurant - the smallest in town, proprietor Tom Cone said - has opened for the parade every year since the eatery opened four years ago.

"So we decided to follow that tradition," he said.

Many community groups and businesses build a float for the event, including Green Tree Financial. A semitrailer pulled Green Tree's float - a flatbed forest of handmade trees glowing with 50,000 lights.

The float took hundreds of hours of work, said Lisa Butler, a member of the company's float committee.

"I can't describe it, but it's worth it for the minute it takes to go by," she said.

2008 winners

Sounds of the season award: Best use of music

Business: Green Tree

Financial: First Presbyterian Church

Season's brightest award: Best overall use of lights

Business: Knology

Nonprofit: Black Hills Workshop

Creative sparkle award: Most original theme

Business: Reptile Gardens

Nonprofit: South Dakota Association of Nurse Anesthetists

Holiday magic award: Best overall parade entry

Business: Northwest Pipe Fittings

Nonprofit: North Haines Volunteer Fire Department

Storybook Island award: Represents the holiday as seen through eyes of child

Animal Clinic of Rapid City

Razzle dazzle award: Best use of special effects

Simon Contractors

Community Spirit Award: Best effort by community and community group

Knollwood, General Beadle, Horace Mann schools

Festive flair award: Unique, imaginative and fun

Business: GE Money

Nonprofit: Black Hills Parrot Welfare and Education

Geezy and Zonk award: Chosen by Sue McCormick and Carol Brown, parade co-chairwomen

Business: UPS

Nonprofit: Rapid Valley Fire Department

Jinx award: For the float that experienced a dog day

R.C.S. Construction