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Ho, ho, ho: Parade welcomes Santa to town

By LeAnne Rogers • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER • November 27, 2008

Santa Claus makes his official arrival in Garden City (MI) at the annual Santaland Parade beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The self-supporting Santaland Parade Committee came close to meeting its goal to raise $7,800 through sponsors, entry fees from participants and fund-raisers, including the sale of Cougar softball championship T-shirts and Santa baseball caps. That's in addition to a $5,000 donation from the Downtown Development Authority to cover the costs of barricades and police overtime.

"We're obviously very pleased with what we raised in this economy. To be able to break even is wonderful. We dipped a little bit into our fund balance," said Dan York of the parade committee.

The parade will feature more than 70 floats and participants, including the Garden City High School and Taylor Kennedy High School marching bands.

The grand marshals for the parade will be the Cougars state championship softball team and the Garden City High School Pompon Team, which had a three-peat as the Mid American Class A state champions. Also invited to participate in the parade were 2008 First Citizen Dave Stapleton and Business Person of the Year John Fleming.

The parade, which begins on Ford at Merriman then heads east to Middlebelt, will again feature two large parade-style balloons, the Taylor Shriners, the Detroit Ignition Dance Team and mascot, the Michigan State University Pompon squad and Detroit Tigers mascot Paws.

Santa and Mrs. Claus have a new ride thanks to a project renovating a Currier and Ives sleigh which is mounted on a parade float. Carol and Ken Hines organized the renovations, enlisting friends to do the work.

Serving on the parade committee with York are Margo Ciecierski, Kevin Kramis, Pat Squires, Donna Spiteri, Al and Deb Seder and Monica Fulton and Sue Nicholas from the Community Coalition. There will be dozens of volunteers from the Coalition and the Family Resource Center handling the banners, mascots, staging and other details to make the parade possible. Merriman Road Baptist Church is providing free hot chocolate and doughnuts at the parade staging area at Moeller Field.

The parade heads north from Ford on Middlebelt past City Hall where bleachers will be set up for parade watchers. York, the city's cable contractor, will be hosting the live television broadcast of the parade beginning at about 10:30 a.m. on Channel 18 WOW!/Channel 12 Comcast.

"We encourage everyone to come out and watch the parade in person, then watch the parade played back throughout the holiday season," said York.

Parade sponsors this year include:

Santa's Helpers ($500) - Barsamian Family Dentistry, American Legion 396, Garden City Medical Center, John Santeiu and Sons Funeral Home, Orin Jewelers, Wingate Management and Fleming Financial Services.

Santa's Elves ($250) - Jets Pizza, VFW Post 7575, Gordon Chevrolet, Gamers Give Back/Game Yard, Crestwood Dodge, Midwest Cardiology, KAR GO Carburetor and CiCi's Pizza.

Donors ($100) - Roma Hall, Andrews Sav-On Drugs, LA Insurance, American Legion Riders, Garden City Moose 538, Metro Soccer League, Sparks Auto Service, CJ's Clean, the White family and Elite Heating and Cooling.

Immediately after the parade, the Sports Venue will be serving free hot chocolate, coffee and cookies. The Sports Venue is located at Middlebelt and Maplewood.

lrogers@hometownlife.com | (734) 953-2103