This is my sixth Christmas season in Saint Petersburg. I find it difficult to believe that I have been here that long. On Saturday the 84th Santa's Parade was held in downtown. Since I had to work on the Saturdays in previous years I was not able to attend. So, this year was my first.
It was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70s. I left my apartment around 9:30 AM and headed downtown with my camera. There was a lot of activity going on. The parade began at 10 AM and reached the point where I positioned myself around 20 minutes later. It was a fun parade, very festive and the participants were having fun throwing beads and candy to the viewers.
There were a lot of schools, churches and various dog rescue places in the parade. I was disappointed that there were no full marching bands. What's up with that? There was music and a couple smaller percussion groups but I would have enjoyed some marching bands.
After the parade ended around noon, I walked down to the Saturday Morning Market which was in full swing. It was even more crowded in that part of downtown because there was also a boat show in progress a block away on the water.
I had coffee before I left my apartment and was ready for a snack. I headed right over to the empanada stand, my favorite! I always have a difficult time deciding which one to choose. I was in the mood for sweets, so selected the espresso, hazelnut, chocolate ganauche one. YUMMMMM!!! I browsed the booths and did end up with one purchase for a Christmas gift. Then I headed back up to Straub Park to check out the Snowfest activities.
It was fun watching the kids and adults too, get all excited about "snow" and "ice". It looked like everyone was having fun and were in a festive mood. There was a long line to see Santa too! After walking around the park for a while, I next headed over to Vinoy Park where one of the local radio stations was having a concert. A lot of people were heading into the gated grounds. (For festival and events that require tickets, the city puts up temporary fencing around the whole park.) I'm not sure who was playing, but as I passed the ticket booth, I saw that the tickets were $60. I did hang out for a short while in a under a tree nearby where other non-ticket payers were enjoying the band playing from the huge stage not too far away (smaller picture just above the 'ice fishing' photo). I actually enjoyed the few numbers I heard!
1 comment:
Very cool! I love the idea of a Christmas parade. In many places the weather would not allow for it but those of us in warmer climes should take advantage.
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