Scenes from a rickshaw on a magical night

If you ask me and the two little elves at my side, the best way to watch the Appleton Christmas Parade is on a rickshaw peddled by your extremely athletic friend smack dab down the middle of the route.

“This is the best night of my life,” one of the elves shouted repeatedly as he waved to the crowd like a champ and regaled them all with various Christmas Carols.

We landed right behind the Grinch, which made the whole trip down College Avenue even more entertaining for us and the record crowd perched three stories high along the Avenue.

We saw the mean ole Grinch taunt the little people brave enough to call him over, sidle to and fro and, occasionally, faint dramatically and require resuscitation from the ambulance he trailed.

The weather could not have been better for the occasion, just cold enough to make Santa feel at home, but windless and really quite pleasant. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful Christmastime. We sure were.

We loved the theme of peace on earth and all the beautiful floats reflecting that theme. We also appreciated the variety of bands, and dancers, friendly dogs and dignitaries.

I had an opportunity to thank parade marshal Mary Beth Nienhaus for all she has done for our community.

The Appleton Christmas Parade really is an excellent example of all that is good and right about this sweet city.

And, the truth is, I was considering watching the parade from our nice warm home, until we got a call from our friend Dave asking if we’d like to ride in his rickshaw.

Thank goodness I’m a sucker for a wacky adventure.

Once again we’d like to extend a sincere thank you to the City of Appleton for kicking off our holiday season in such a magical way and to Dave Merry, our merry peddler, who not only escorted us through the route but also zoomed us back to the beginning when we were through.

Merry Christmas season to all and to all a good night!

If you ever get a chance to ride a rickshaw through a Christmas parade, I’m telling you, you’ve got to do it!
We got to wave to some really cool bands while we waited for our turn to enter the route.
This float looked magical even before it started moving.
Cool to see the Nutcracker cast march past.
All we are saying, is give peace a chance.
Another beautiful peace-themed float.
I was happy to get to thank parade marshal and community philanthropist extraordinaire Mary Beth Nienhaus in person. What a blessing to the community!
I like this picture because it’s full of life and lights and bundled up babies in strollers and smiling women who look like European Christmas angels.
We were right behind this prankster as he taunted the crowd…
…and occasionally needed to be revived.
Thank you to Appleton Downtown Incorporated and the Appleton Police Department for allowing our city to kick off the holiday season in such a joyful way. Let there be peace on earth.

One thought on “Scenes from a rickshaw on a magical night

  1. Roxie (my Boxer who did Pet Therapy with me — RIP) and I used to participate in the Christmas parade when we lived in the Texas Hill Country… What fun it was!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

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