Krewe of Jingle Parade
December 1, 2012
On
November 31, 2012 I received an e-mail
from Christina. It contained a document list of
Christmas and winter-holiday events in New Orleans. I was glad when I saw this
list.
Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I love all the events and
activities during this time, especially in New Orleans,
no snow, just warm and full of outdoor events.
I went through the list.
Then I decided to go to the Krewe of Jingle Parade with my boyfriend Ian. It
was a Christmas parade that
started from 1pm. It
started in downtown, and it ran from St. Charles Avenue to Canal street. I was very excited and
this was the first time I participated in a American style parade. I have been
to many countries because have seen different
tradition parades. This was a great chance for me to experience a parade in America for the first time.
On
the day, I woke up at noon. It was very late. I rushed to the bathroom and did my make-up as fast as I could. I refused to have
lunch even though I was starving. Ian
and I ran to the Market in the Danna Center. We bought some snacks and drinks. Then we caught
the street car in front of the university.
It
was supposed to be a sunny day according to
the weather broadcast. But unfortunately, it rained for a bit and the sky was cloudy. I did not bring my umbrella, and I was worried about the parade. It was a
very crowded day, both on the buses
and the street cars which were headed downtown. It seemed as if everyone in NOLA was there. There were many
tourists. It surprised me that even though
it was not
yet the holidays, people from around the country and
the world were still here in New
Orleans. It took almost an hour to get to where the parade started.
I
missed almost half of the parade because of the traffic. The bus stopped at the
parade route, which meant I had to run from there.
I found out that if I ran ahead of the parade to Canal Street where it had not passed, I still could catch up. I was right: I found a perfect place to stand. 
When
the parade approached, everyone was shouting, and the kids were
especially crazy
and insane. At the head of each parade
group, there were two people who held the banner that had their
group names on it. The parade participants were parade floats, stilt walkers, marching bands, Christmas characters, and many more. They threw bead necklaces, animal plush, cups, car toys, and other small stuff. I liked those plush so much. Ian
shouted and ran along the parade, trying to get one plush for me.
But unfortunately I did not got any. Sad L Instead, I got a medium sized bell charm and a plastic cup that printed logos of the parade. These were my memories and souvenirs for the
day. I was
happy afterward.
The music was great. Some
groups played the music from their song playlists, and there
was one group that had a huge band. Dancers
were mostly young people, from ages 4-20. At the end of the parade, Santa Claus threw candy to everyone. It was a
happy
ending to great day. The traffic downtown closed many blocks. One funny thing I saw was that many drivers left their cars in the middle of the street. Because they could not move, they decided to come to the parade.
It was a good time. The
weather was kind of depressing but it was fun anyway. I have seen the Disney parade, but this one was
totally different. People were from different backgrounds and the themes for their groups were
different.
I liked it and will come again
next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment