Grand Marais rang in the holiday season with a parade on Friday, November 23. Top left: SuperAmerica won the “Best Theme” prize for its Julefest float featuring St. Lucia, MaeAnna LaFavor (left), and Lynn Schulte. Top right: Joynes Department Store won the grand prize traveling trophy with their gnome-filled float. Lower left: There are always fire trucks in the parade and Grand Marais firefighter Matt Conlan brought along a tiny Christmas firefighter to smile and wave. Lower right: Dockside Fish Market won the “Cutest Kids” prize.
As if on cue, Mother Nature provided a beautiful white backdrop for the Grand Marais Chamber of Commerce Christmas parade on Friday, November 23. Despite the evening being one of the first seasonably cold days, there was a good turnout for the festive event.
The theme of this year’s Christmas parade was “Oh Ole Night” and participants were encouraged to decorate their floats or themselves in reflection of the Scandinavian heritage of the North Shore.
There were 13 entries in this year’s parade and lots of shivering bystanders cheering for them and grabbing up the candy tossed. There was a lot of chocolate. One of the benefits of a Northland holiday parade is that you don’t have to worry about the candy melting!
After the parade, Santa and two of his trusty sled dogs chatted with kids at Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply. Families enjoyed cookies and cider while they waited for their turn with Santa.
There were several categories in the Uffdah sweater contest. Winning the “best group or family sweaters” honors was the Larsen Family. Claiming the “best color coordinated sweaters” was Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply who took the award with their bright red parkas. And in an unusual category—“Best Male Bear Sweater”—Sivertson Gallery claimed the prize with their rolling sweater-clad bear.
The entry earning “Best Holiday Spirit” was the WTIP radio float. WTIP rocked the parade with a great mix of holiday tunes. The “Cutest Kids” award went to Dockside Fish Market for their cute fishy kids. “Best Theme” went to the Grand Marais SuperAmerica/ Julefest entry with its St. Lucia and Norwegian flag-draped classic truck. Earning “Best Animal” was Arrowhead Pharmacy, which in addition to some cute kids had an adorable Newfoundland on board.
Winning the highly coveted Traveling Tomtar Trophy was Joynes Ben Franklin with their “No place like Gnome” entry. The store gets to proudly display the gnome figurine until next year’s parade.
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