Schenectady is preparing to host its 53rd holiday parade. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard caught up with a group of young marchers as they prepared for Saturday’s big event.
Outside a home in the Village of Scotia, an oversized gingerbread house sits in the driveway. Inside, a group of girls – the gingerbread float’s designers – practice their dance routine.
The girls are members of the Al Tabari Court #28 Youth Group. They’ll be marching in Saturday’s 53rd Annual Holiday Parade through Schenectady.
The theme of this year’s parade is “dream big.” The girls’ gingerbread house float also has giant candy and plenty of wrapped gifts.
14-year-old Mckenzie Gordon said it wasn’t easy to put together.
“It was hard! But it was cool because we all got to interact with each other…’
“Who came up with the gingerbread house idea?”
“Everybody.”
“So you had to all come up with one idea? Was that hard?”
“No…no it wasn’t!”
“They’re saying no now…”
Some of the girls have marched in the parade before, but it will be the first time for 10-year-old Mykahlee Caillouette.
“Are you excited?”
“Yeah”
“What do you want to see at the parade?”
“Uh…I dunno!”
“I wanna see Elsa and Anna.”
“I wanna see Mickey Mouse!”
Desiree Chaires, director of the youth group, says Schenectady’s annual holiday parade is a tradition she has shared with her family for decades.
“We had family coming all over for Thanksgiving, so then everybody was like, ‘Oh, we’re coming to the parade!’ And then with my older kids, my older kid, Don Jr. and his wife came from New Hampshire, and they used to come and, you know, Thanksgiving, and then we’d all go to the parade. And then it changed but it’s still good. The kids look forward to it,” said Chaires.
This year, The Daily Gazette is no longer the lead sponsor and organizer for the parade. Organizing duties were handed over to the city and Schenectady County. In 2020, the parade was cancelled due to the pandemic. The parade is one of Schenectady’s largest annual events.
County legislator Rich Patierne is vice chair of the Committee for Tourism, Arts, and Special Events.
“The county is very excited to play a part in this annual tradition and we have almost double the amount of people that will be walking in the parade between floats and marching bands and people – like politicians – that will be walking. We have over a hundred, where it was in the 50s last year,” said Patierne.
Schenectady’s 53rd Annual Holiday Parade is scheduled to step off at 5 p.m. on Saturday in downtown Schenectady.
A pre-parade block party is planned, which will include live music as well as costumed characters provided by the Costumer.
The parade is sponsored this year by MVP Health Care, and key supporters Price Chopper/Market 32, and CDTA, Best Fitness, Ellis Medicine, and National Grid, with media partners News10ABC, The Daily Gazette, and IHeartMedia’s B95.5.
For more information visit https://www.schenectadycounty.com/event/53rd-annual-holiday-parade
