One event that really rings in the Christmas Cheer is Montesano's Festival of Lights Parade.  It's THE event of Grays Harbor County, and this year's seemed to be trying to make up for last year's parade -- it got "winded out" by the storm last year that knocked out power in the Big storm of last winter, causing them to cancel the storm.  

It was a great parade, and we had a great time!

After a brief delay... the police car rounds the corner - the official start to the parade!

The VFW led the parade, carrying the Colors.

This float was a boat, and it had a large steam kettle that vented steam through a whistle.

The Montesano Marching Band sounded pretty good...

The little guy couldn't take his eyes off the parade -- even for a picture!  I really liked his "Russian Cap"

This is the float he was looking at.  It was a Merry-go-Round, pulled by a motorcycle.

Not sure what kind of vehicle this was, but it was pretty well lit up, and driven by some fairly young kids...

The Montesano Ladder truck, as always, was a big hit with the crowd.

In the basket of the Ladder... Santa!

This is an annual entry... because NOTHING says "Christmas" like a Pirate Ship!

The little guy gave out a big "Ooooh" when he saw this airplane!

This float was put on by the "Logger's Playday", another major festival in the county...

This dump truck was VERY decorated!

Not long after the truck passed us, we heard a loud noise... the dump truck fired off several fireworks mounted in the bed of the truck...

It was pretty impressive... but I'm sure they're going to be spoken to about it!

There were a couple of other dump trucks, also done up with a lot of lights!  Pretty impressive stuff!

The last entry of the parade, and as always the crowd favorite, the Cement Truck was done up with a very striking pattern... the mixer spun wildly, and really made for a good show.

I really thought the pattern this year was striking!

The parade ended the way it always does... with the tractor hauling the "yule log" to the city square, where the kids buck it up for older kids to split.  Its then used to make a large bon fire, and folks join in Christmas Carols and drink hot chocolate, and generally have a great time.... what a great town!

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