PRADE OF LIGHTS TRADITION GROWING

In just four years, the Parade of Lights through downtown Cape Girardeau has grown into a holiday season institution.

"Every year it gets bigger and bigger," said Christine Roussel, one of the Christmas parade's primary organizers.

The annual event gets under way at dusk, sometime between 5 and 5:30 p.m. The parade route starts at Capaha Park and heads east on Broadway to Main Street where it concludes at Hutson's Furniture.

The parade is sponsored by the Downtown Merchants Association and KBSI-TV.

The parade started out as a way to celebrate Christmas while promoting downtown Cape Girardeau, Roussel said, but businesses from throughout the city and even from out of town take part in the event.

As of Friday afternoon, there were 105 entries for the parade with more expected. "A lot a groups just show up" prior to the parade, Roussel said.

About a third of the entries come from church groups. "They are very eager to participate to get the religious meaning of Christmas across," she said.

Various service organizations, social clubs and youth groups such as Boy and Girl Scouts from throughout the region are among the participants.

"We do have a lot of groups from out of town coming quite a ways to enter," Roussel said.

One of the more popular groups that participates annually is the SEMO Hogs, a club for motorcycling enthusiasts. "For some reason, little kids love seeing Santa on a Harley," Roussel said.

Not many bands take part, due in part to the parade being held after the end of marching season, Roussel said. Bands that are participating are the St. Vincent High School marching band from Perryville, four year veterans, and the St. Vincent De Paul Grade School band, event newcomers. Playing from the back of a flatbed truck for the second year will be the Jerry Ford Orchestra.

Regional interest among spectators continues to expand, Roussel said. Mary Miller, director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the group promotes the parade as one of the city's top attractions.

Roussel said she recently talked to people from East Prairie and North Dakota who want to start Christmas parades modeled after the one in Cape Girardeau.

"If they've heard about it all the way to North Dakota, we must be doing pretty well," Roussel said.

While in town for the parade, people can also take the opportunity to view holiday window displays at Hutson's Furniture, 43 S. Main Street, Furniture Fair, 1 N. Main Street, as well as take in the more than 200 holiday light displays at Cape County Park North.

"People can come down and see the parade and then walk down to see the window and Hutson's before driving out for the tour at the park," Roussel said. "It's kind of like killing three birds with one stone."

Sections of Broadway, Main Street, West End Boulevard and Parkview will be closed to parking all day Sunday and to traffic just prior to the start of the parade.

Paradegoers can park in a number of downtown lots, including the Southeast Missouri Hospital lot at West End Boulevard and Broadway, the lot adjacent to the Missouri Wall of Fame mural, the Southeast Missouri State University lot near Broadway on Henderson, the public lot at Broadway and Water Street and that at nearby Boatmen's Bank.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department reminds those attending the parade to expect traffic tie-ups downtown following the parade.

The parade is expected to take about two to two-and-a-half hours from the time the first float to leaves Capaha Park to when the last float completes the route.