Schenectady Holiday Parade lights up spirits and honors heroes – The Daily Gazette

Santa Claus hadn’t even hit State Street on Saturday night when the children’s cheers rang out, Santa Claus, Santa Claus!

Ashi’s sleigh slid into the gaze, smiles slid across faces, eyes twinkled with joy, and little feet could not stay on the ground.

The cheerful, cheerful man in red may have closed the long-awaited procession through the streets of the city, but he was kicking off the holiday season.

The Schenectady HolidayParade, known as the largest nighttime parade in the Northeast, returned on Saturday night after a year off, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a superhero theme that shines the spotlight on frontline workers pandemic.

It featured traditional floats and lighted fire trucks, as well as dancers and marching bands.

Many brightly colored mobile screens thanked those who served on the front lines during the pandemic, including the police, firefighters, members of the public works department and those in the medical field.

This year the Grand Marshal was Rodelin Rodel Sumiran, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Ellis Hospital.

Crowds of people walked about five rows deep. Some observers began to claim seats near the stage outside of Proctors hours before the parade.

Vickye Gray of Paradox was one of those people. She, her daughter Elizabeth, 10, and her friends Marc, Angelus and Vinny Pardi were all wrapped up in blankets sitting on chairs.

Vickye Gray said she lived in Scotland and had attended the parade before but wanted to make new memories with her daughter.

It’s an incredible parade, she said.

Sarah Onley sat in her chair outside the state office building at 328 State Street, waiting for the parade to start. She said she had reviewed her place a week ago.

His plan was to set up his GoPro camera along the railing and film the action as it unfolded.

Further down the course, Jeremy Duquette and his 10-year-old daughter RosaLeigh were in the crowd waiting for the floats for the first time since 2018.

RosaLeigh was delighted to see Santa Claus, while her father was happy that the parade honored the heroes.

Seeing all the first responders is great, he said. I am very grateful for his return after COVID.

He said it’s not the holidays without the parade.

Tanya Viveiros was also grateful to have taken over the parade.

I like to see the community together, she says.

She was sitting not far from the big stage with her husband Mark and their children Madison, 12, Jordan, 10, and Ella, 7. Tanya, a graduate of Mohonasen High School, said she looks forward to seeing the Rotterdam School Marching Band make their annual trip to the parade route.

She added that her daughters were part of the parade themselves a few years ago with their Girl Scout troop.

This year they were just having fun seeing all the tanks.

Jordan and Madison both said they enjoyed seeing all of the dogs in the parade.

We are a family of animals, said Tanya Viveiros, noting that they have two puppies.

Of course, the family weren’t surprised when Ella said she was thrilled that Santa was on the parade.

4-year-old Vivian Daskalakis was also delighted to end the evening with a visit from Santa Claus, who was at the parade with her grandmother Laura Cataldo and cousin Louisa Bechard. They came from Albany to see all the action.

As the tanks passed they waved and smiled. But, when Santa Claus came by, they went crazy – smiling from ear to ear.

The parade can be seen again the parade by visiting:dailygazette.com/2021/11/20/watch-live-schenectady-holiday-parade-2021-5-pm-start-video-feed-starts-at-430

Categories: News, Schenectady County