PARADE, GLENN HOUSE TO LIGHT CAPE SKIES

The Downtown Christmas Parade of Lights for 2000 is past the 100-entry mark and could hit record proportions when floats, bands and cars start lining up at Capaha Park Sunday afternoon.

"This could be our biggest year to date," said Kent Zickfield, chairman of this year's event.

Parade units have reached the 100 mark the past four years. "Christmas Past, Christmas Present" is the theme for this year's event. Entries are judged in six categories.

Another attraction for parade-goers Sunday will be a free open house from 1-8 p.m. at the Glenn House, the city's restored Victorian showplace.

The Glenn House, located 325 S. Spanish Street, will be decorated for the holiday season. It also will be open for tours from 1-4 p.m. Dec. 2-3, 9-10, 16-17 and Dec. 30.

The deadline for 2000 parade entries was more than a week ago, but entries have been coming in every day this week, noted Zickfield, who optimistically predicts 120 entries. That would match the parade's biggest year, when entries had an added week to prepare.

Last year, 117 entries registered for the parade, and 110 showed up.

Sunday's weather forecasts calls for cloudy and cool temperatures but no rain. The parade is scheduled is scheduled to start about 5 p.m. or dusk. It will proceed east on Broadway, turn right on Main Street and end in front of Hutson's Furniture Store.

Floats from the Downtown Merchants Association will lead and end the parade. A riverboat float hauling Santa Claus will bring up the rear. Missing from the parade for the first time this year will be the Jerry Ford Orchestra, which played on the riverboat float each of the past seven years. The band will be out of town Sunday.

A lot of planning and hard work goes into the entries, said Zickfield.

"Entry planners and workers make the parade go," he said. "They get involved in the float, making it attractive for viewers."

The Downtown Merchants Association sponsors the parade with Zimmer Broadcasting as a corporate sponsor. But it's a community event, said Zickfield, adding that churches, Scouts, schools, and businesses get involved. Entries this year come from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Marble Hill, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

The parade was brainchild of restaurateur Dennis "Doc" Cain in 1993. A total of 53 entries and about 6,000 people turned out for the first one.