Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Judges announced the winning floats
Santa hails parade watchers as he rides in his customary ladder truck cherry-picker donated by the Tucumcari Fire Department during Saturday's Parade of Lights.
From left, Hope Dominguez, Harley McKinney, Aubrey Hendren, Kayden McKinney and Lillian Najera huddle in a pickup truck bed Saturday while they wait for Santa to pass by.
Tucumcari's annual Parade of Lights made its way down a new route Saturday night as it traveled from the Kmart parking lot down Historic Route 66 Boulevard to the Tucumcari Convention Center.
The convention center then hosted hundreds of participants and viewers for post-parade cookies and hot chocolate provided by Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital, a little shopping at booths of the Christmas Expo and visits with Santa Claus.
As usual, Santa rode in the basket of a ladder truck provided by the Tucumcari Fire Department and hailed parade watchers as the parade advanced down the boulevard amid police and fire sirens and flashing lights.
Parade watchers bundled up against 30-degree temperature, and children huddled up under blankets as they waited to give Santa a waive as he passed.
Out-of-town judges decreed winning floats in the parade as follows:
General Christmas
• First place: Mesalands Community College
• Second place: Family Vision
• Third place: Tucumcari Historical Museum
Religious
• First place: Father's Forge Church
Recreational
• First place: Tucumcari FFA
• Second place: S & S Tire