The holidays were ushered into Twain Harte Friday night with the annual Twain Harte winter Wonderland Christmas Parade.
Twenty-one entries made up the community event, featuring fire trucks, Girl and Cub Scouts, cars, trucks and motorcycles. Of course Santa himself made a grand entrance to town as well.
Christmas Carol singing began at 5:30 p.m. and lighting of the huge Christmas tree near the arch took place at 6 p.m..
Gary Sipperley was recognized by the citizens for his many years of service to the community of Twain Harte.
Making its eleventh consecutive appearance in Twain Harte’s annual Christmas Parade, T.H.A.N.K.S. – the Twain Harte Amateur Neighborhood Kazoo Symphony – combines abysmal musical skills with wretched marching ability to form a cacophony of pseudo-entertainment.
The group was founded by Twain Harte residents Sheri Barnett and Gary Sipperley in 1992. While reflecting on the first Twain Harte Christmas Parade they witnessed after moving to town, this married couple concluded that something was missing.
That “something” was clearly a tasteless, talentless band. After rejecting suggestions of a marching band carrying fully functional chain saws, Sheri and Gary settled on snow shovels to carry an inspiring message of hope and joy for the season: “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
The contingent has steadily grown over the years. “In the beginning, we struggled to get the fifteen people necessary to spell out our inspiring message of hope and joy for the season,” said Sipperley. “We had to resort to bribing participants with food and drink,” he recalled. “Actually nothing has changed. We still have to bribe participants with food and drink. The only difference is that now more people are willing to be bribed.”
The Twain Harte Area Chamber of Commerce “Light Up the Town” Award winners were also announced Friday night, with Harte Collection winning first place again. The Twain Harte 7-Eleven took 2nd place and Twain Harte Lumber was 3rd.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:36 pm