As snowflakes filled the air, the 28th Annual Holiday Children's Parade stepped off from Kennedy Park shortly after 12:30 p.m. on December 1st following the arrival of Santa Claus by helicopter. The parade featured gigantic helium balloons of Angry Birds, Cookie Monster and other characters as well as marching bands from Diman Regional, Dighton-Rehoboth, Dartmouth and Tiverton high schools. Over one hundred groups from local schools and organizations got a lot of heart-healthy exercise by marching along the mile-long parade route on South Main Street from the Park to Government Center. "This is the largest Holiday Parade in Massachusetts," remarked CD-REC executive director Grace Gerling, one of the principal organizers of the event who also organized a holiday event the next day at her facility on Bank Street. Click here for the Herald News article. Click here to see all of the photos of the parade. Click here for the video of this year's parade, and here for photos of last year's parade. Click here for photos and video of the Jingle Run held just before the parade and here for the Christmas Celebration held the next day. Contact Grace Gerling at 508-679-022 for more information.
 

(Top row, left) Mason Proulx and Abahob Mikhail from the Henry Lord Middle School warm up their drums in Kennedy Park while waiting for the parade to begin. (Top row, center) Members of the championship undefeated Fall River Red Sox baseball league stand next to their trophy that they will display in the parade. (Top row, right) Five-year-old Xandria Lord and three-year-old Tristan Major play their toy trumpets they just got at the parade. (Row two, left) Members of the Fall River Police Department fan out to the crowd with their children handing out candy to the children. (Row tow, center) Specialists Jenkins and Bean, members of the 215th assachusetts Army National Guard Band get ready to lead off the parade. (Row two, right) Dr. Seuss characters Thing 1 and Thing 2 march along side the Grinch. (Row three) Miss Massachusetts, Taylor Kinzler, and Miss Senior Sweetheart Queen Celina Dilbert wave to the children. (Row four) Children wave pom poms and Ron Defoe of Corky Row holds two Irish flags as he marches to the tunes of a bagpipe band. (Row five) Terry Magellan, dressed as Queen Isabella, hands out candy to the crowd, Jason Springer, dressed as an elf, talks to a friend, and members of the B.M.C. Durfee Marching Band bring up the rear. (Bottom row) The crowd watches as the Hills Mills Clown Band plays before Santa is greeted by Jamison Souza of Greater Fall River Re-Creation and Mike Dion of the Community Development Agency.