Christmas Parade 1954

Remembering the Christmas Parades of years past.  One of Marion's largest crowds ever attended the parade of 1954. 

The old Crittenden Press stated that the crowd was estimated at over 5,000 that swarmed into Marion to watch the hour-long gala Christmas Parade.

Before the parade, hundreds of cars were parked for blocks along side streets, requiring extra efforts by the Police Department and Boy Scouts to handle the traffic. 

There were 18 festive floats entered in the parade, plus many other entries.   All the Marion merchants had worked hard on their colorful floats, many pertaining to what the store sold, the Rose Cleaners float showed a group of dancing youngsters dressed appropriately in suit bags to reflect the dry cleaning theme.

The Cumberland Presbyterian float expressed a true religious scene depicting a kneeling choir at the base of a cross.

The picture above was taken on West Bellville Street.  The cars in the street were from some of the dealerships that Marion had during that time.