Parade of Lights will have a new champion on Saturday
Photos by Tom Rivers: Spectators line up on Main Street to watch the Parade of Lights last year in Medina. The Lyndonville Fire Department was among the participants.
45 entrants on Saturday don’t include a previous grand champion
MEDINA – There are 45 community organizations and businesses signed up for Saturday’s Parade of Lights in Medina. None of the entrants are recent grand champions.
Takeform, the two-time defending champ, decided instead to puts its energy into helping decorate Rotary Park. The Albion FFA, the grand champion in 2016, and Matt Mundion of Matt C.M. Contracting, who won from 2013-2015, also won’t be in the parade.
“We’ll definitely have a new winner,” said Jim Hancock, the parade chairman.
Takeform, the grand champion of the Parade of Lights in 2017 and 2018, won’t have a float in Saturday’s Parade of Lights. The Medina company instead has helped decorate Rotary Park for the holiday season.
The 45 entrants matches the number from last year. This year there will be 17 new entrants in the 11thannual parade, which Hancock believes is a record.
“There are some I’m anticipating some big things from,” he said.
The parade starts at 6 p.m. from the Olde Pickle Factory and heads down Park Avenue to Main Street in the downtown. The parade route has been extended down Main Street to near the American Legion and Hartway Motors. Five Star Bank is making its parking lot available for people who need handicapped parking spots.
This year’s parade includes music at Rotary Park by Prime Time Brass from Churchville at 5 p.m. and the Community Tree Lighting ceremony at 5:30, followed by a fireworks display by Young Explosives at about 5:45.
The Albion FFA was the grand champion of the 2016 parade when the FFA made a float with more than 10,000 lights. The Albion FFA is taking a break from the parade this year. The FFA won the grand champion award in 2016.
Matt Mundion of Matt C.M. Contracting was grand champion in the Parade of Lights in 2015 with the “Medina Express,” a train with four units. Mundion was the grand champion of the parade for three years.
