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Christmas parade rolls through town, despite snow and cold

Weather forecasts blamed for cancellation of band's appearance

December 05, 2010|By Bob Flynn | The Winchester Sun

It definitely looked a lot like Christmas Saturday night for the annual Christmas parade in downtown Winchester.

A snowstorm earlier in the day left a couple of inches of snow covering the downtown area, and while snow showers during the parade added to the Christmas atmosphere, it also kept down the number of attendees.

Those who braved the weather were treated to a good time led by Grand Marshal Bill Bender and including numerous scout troops, floats, dance troupes and the George Rogers Clark Junior ROTC unit.

But it was the absence of a mainstay of the parade each year, the George Rogers Clark High School Marching Band, that seemed to be the talk of the parade route Saturday. Many were left questioning why the band wasn’t allowed to march when the ROTC unit was.

GRC Principal David Bolen said this morning that the decision for the band not to participate was made earlier Saturday when it was still snowing heavily.

“I was in West Virginia when band director Chris Yoo called me and told me it was snowing and the basketball game and other events scheduled for Saturday had been canceled and asked what we needed to do,” Bolen said. “I said, ‘Why don’t we wait a couple of hours and see what the weather is like before we make a decision.’ So I called him back later and it was still coming down and the weather people were calling for another wave of snow to come through around 4 p.m., so that is when we made the decision, instead of requiring the kids to come in and perform, to not have them perform.”

As it turned out, the snow ended in late afternoon, but the decision had already been made.
“In hindsight, I guess if we had waited another two or three hours it might have been all right, but at the time it was still snowing, so we made the decision we thought was best for our students,” Bolen said.

As for the ROTC unit participating, Bolen said he was not contacted by ROTC officials on Saturday.
Even without the band, and given the cold weather conditions, everyone involved with the parade said it was still a success.

Girl Scout Troop 492 claimed first place in the float contest, with Clark Energy taking second.

Contact Bob Flynn at bflynn@winchestersun.com

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