Christmas Parade set for Dec. 7

A rainbow of lights has been hung over downtown. Characters from storybooks and classic movies are coming to life. Floats that have been sitting inside a shed for almost a year will soon emerge again. Santa Claus has booked his annual sleigh ride to Central Wisconsin.

These are all signs that the annual Abbotsford Christmas Parade is on its way. The 53rd annual event will take place on Saturday, Dec. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. in downtown Abbotsford.

What makes this parade different from every other community parade is its homegrown origins. A city of under 2,500 people comes together every year to put on a spectacle that has drawn visitors from hundreds of miles away for more than a half-century.

“This isn’t your typical parade with tractor- trailers and business floats,” said parade organizer Kris O’Leary. “We have people calling to have a float in the parade and we must explain that the parade owns the floats and costumes, and we don’t allow other floats in the parade.”

“There are no business names on the floats,” she added. “Community members volunteer to build and maintain all the costumes and floats. These floats cost thousands of dollars each to make and are built to last years.”

Hundreds of hours of donated labor and time go into making each float and costume. There are no advertisements on the floats, no political messages, just your favorite fantasy and cartoon characters and thousands of lights purely for the crowd’s enjoyment.

Floats are cleaned up each year and lights and tires are checked. Some floats get retired, updated, or repurposed into something new.

This year, the old Cinderella’s pumpkin from some of the earliest parades was brought out of storage to be turned into something new. Unfortunately, the running gear, at over 100 years old, was way past its prime. However, the pumpkin was able to be salvaged and expanded to become Shrek’s onion carriage.

The Doberstein family contacted O’Leary about an old stagecoach in grandpa’s barn.

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The coach was purchased, cleaned, painted, and electrified to show off the Toy Story characters.

One young girl who has helped with the parade for years has asked for “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” float to go with the song from 1953. She planned out a design with her mom and grandma. With the help of her brother, sisters, mom, dad, grandma, great aunt, and great uncle, she helped build this new float.

The 3:16 Church will provide bathrooms and homemade cookies and hot chocolate during the parade. Other local businesses will be open for parade-goers to stop and eat or shop before or after the parade. Guests from the Twin Cities to Madison have returned over and over because they don’t have anything to compare to the Abbotsford Christmas Parade in their communities.

The parade route begins in front of the TP Printing parking lot and goes east on West Spruce before turning north onto North Second Street. It then heads west on Birch Street and south on North First Street before heading back to the TP parking lot.

A schedule of events is planned in Abbotsford leading up to the parade. A cookie walk will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, and the Abby Lions will have a soup and chili feed and bake sale at Abbotsford City Hall from 10 a.m. until they run out. The Shops on Candy Cane Lane, featuring cash-and-carry sales from homebased businesses, will also be held at city hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Curtiss Lions will also be doing pictures with Santa at city hall from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The parade is supported by room tax money from Abby Inn, Rodeway Inn and the Home Motel, along with area businesses that donate prizes for the annual raffle. Raffle tickets are available at area businesses now through Friday, Dec. 6, and on the night of the parade along the route until the start of the parade at 7:30 p.m.

The grand prize is a Yeti cooler with $1,000 meat gift cards donated by Nicolet National Bank. First place is $1,000 cash donated by Loos Machine & Automation and Meyer Buildings; second place is a pellet grill donated by Smith Brothers Meats and Maurina-Schilling funeral home; third place is a $500 gift card from AbbyBank; fourth place is a New Holland corn hole game donated by Cherokee Garage; fifth place is a $150 Visa gift card donated by Forward Financial Bank; sixth place is a $200 yard stone gift certificate donated by Baumgartner’s Lumber & Materials; seventh place is a $200 gift card donated by RCU; eighth place is a $200 gas card donated by k99-WKEB radio, ninth place is a $100 gift card donated by Taylor Credit Union; 10th place is $100 in Chamber bucks donated by First City Dentistry; 11th place is $100 in Chamber bucks donated by Klinner Insurance, 12th place is $100 pizza party donated by Abbotsford Pizza Hut.

“If it has been years since you have been to the Abbotsford Christmas Parade or have never seen the parade, make time this year to get your holiday spirit in full gear,” O’Leary said.

INSIDE THE ONION - Kevin Flink works on the interior of Shrek’s onion carriage, which was converted from the old Cinderella’s pumpkin float from parades in the past.

STAFF PHOTO/KRIS O’LEARY