It feels like Christmas in Olde Leaksville

By Miranda Baines

Published: November 29, 2008

There was no snow on the ground. In fact, the temperature hovered around 47 degrees. But it still felt like Christmas on the streets of the Olde Leaksville Shopping District in Eden Friday night.

The floats that made their way down Washington Street were covered with the sights of the season, from manger scenes and Santa’s sleigh to glittering snowflakes and Christmas trees. The festive sounds in the parade included the fire trucks’ sirens, shouts of holiday greetings from parade participants to spectators and Christmas tunes performed by the Morehead High School marching band. The band played “Deck the Halls,” “Angels, We Have Heard on High” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”

“We love participating and supporting Eden and celebrating the season of Christmas,” said Tres Ward, drum major. “We like to see all our friends and family.”

The Christmas parade is truly a family event. Parents lined the downtown streets with their children. James and Judy Perkins came to the parade with their 8-year-old son Matthew. His favorite part of the parade was seeing Frosty the Snowman stroll down the street. For Judy, it was “music and seeing Santa.” The family kept the chill off with their thermos of hot chocolate.

“Hot chocolate and ready to go,” said James.

For 7-year-old Aubrie Oliver, the best part of the Christmas parade was a no-brainer.

“Dancing!” she exclaimed. Melanie Paschal’s Dance Creations and the Leaksville Spray Dancing Dolphins danced for parade goers at the corner of Washington and Hamilton streets. Other performances included a cheerleading routine by Carolina Elite All-Star Cheerleading and skate runs by skateboarders from Arc Skateshop.

The floats in the parade were as varied as the performances. Everything from handmade floats to professional floats to motorcycles to racecars to go karts to tractors to the Pet Dairy Cow to Smokey the Bear to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer made an appearance.

Pete Crouch, owner of Eden Drug, said he thinks a dose of the holiday spirit is just what people need in an uncertain economic time.

“Anything to help cheer people up is worth doing,” he said.

The highlight of Eden Drug’s float was a sleigh with Santa and Mrs. Claus (Joe and Velna Richardson). Another Santa Claus sat in a sleigh with his reindeer atop a float sponsored by Mitchell’s Discount Drug.

The professional floats were classy, but the homemade floats were creative and fun.

“I thought the quality of the homemade floats was superb,” said Cindy Adams, coordinator of tourism and special events for the City of Eden.

Glenn Puckett, of Ridgeway, Va., was back this year with his self-propelled Candyland float. The brightly-lit float could be seen all the way up the street.

“It’s got about 6,000-plus lights on it,” said Puckett. He used the steering wheel inside the children’s playhouse to steer the float. The float also included a turning carousel from an old amusement park and a spinning water mill wheel.

Morehead Academy Child Development Center had two floats. The children rode on a float with greenery and traditional Christmas decorations. The other float featured a homemade gingerbread house, a gumball machine and a live snow queen, who waved to the crowd.

Six-year-old Savannah Brown, Little Miss Riverfest 2008, looked like a snow queen in her white fur. She waved and smiled brightly while throwing out candy to the children in the parade. Deanna Chambers, Miss North Carolina American Queen, was the grand marshal of the parade. It was the first time the Eden native and senior at UNC-G had participated in the Olde Leaksville Nighttime Christmas Parade.

“It’s exciting just to lead it off,” said Chambers. She said she discussed being the grand marshal with Sheriff Sam Page, who has plenty of experience leading parades and participated in Friday night’s parade.

“He said, ‘So you got my spot?’ and we chuckled about it,” said Chambers.

After Santa’s final wave to the crowd at the end of the parade, spectators quickly cleared the streets. But some lingered, stopping in Riverhouse Gift & Gourmet for a hot cup of wassail.
“We’ve been steady busy most of the day,” said Steve Chatham, co-owner of the shop. “I was pleasantly surprised by how everything has gone today.”

Chatham’s wife Ella McBride-Chatham rode a float with two of her classmates from the Morehead High School Class of 1980 — Rhonda Price of David Price Auto Works and Bev Coleman, owner of Diamonds-N-Dust. Chatham said he and his wife sent an e-mail to all their former classmates inviting them to come to the parade.

Staff writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.