Sanford High’s Pep Club and Marching Band participated in the kick-off to the holiday season
BY ABIGAIL LUNNY, STAFF WRITER
On Friday, Dec. 2, the annual Holly Daze Parade marched down Main Street in celebration of the holiday season, with approximately thirty different floats or organizations participating. Sanford High School’s Pep Club presented a float for the first time and SHS’s Marching Band provided festive music throughout.
The Sanford High School Pep Club’s float theme was “Spartan Spirit.” Mrs. Roy, the Pep Club Advisor, credits not only the Pep Club for this idea but also her School Spirit Enrichment class. The school’s new mascot, Martin the Spartan, walked with the Pep Club float as well.
“We just really wanted to have a presence in the parade and brainstormed ideas that would be inexpensive but still fun!” said Roy.
According to Roy, the time it actually took to assemble the float and truly make their vision come to life was many enrichment classes and after-school meetings over the course of several weeks.
Additionally, The Maine Band Directors’ Association Gold Medal Winning Sanford High School Marching Band provided most of the music for the parade.
From dancing to light shows, each parade participating group showed unique displays of holly cheer. Santa and Mrs. Claus, after riding through the parade with the Sanford Police Department, kicked off the night by lighting the tree and taking pictures.
A new approach to safety this year included how candy is distributed to onlookers. Walkers on each side of the road handed out candy to avoid any safety hazards of kids running in the road to grab candy, which is likely the new norm from now on, based on Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy’s suggested mandate.
The Sanford Springvale News released an article two months prior to the parade that detailed plans for this year’s parade traffic, however, no decision was made at the time other than this new mandate.
The Spartan Times 