Knoxville Christmas Parade 2012, Part 2

As I said yesterday, this year’s parade was a bit better for my taste. I mentioned some of the reasons I feel that way and most of them are back-handed compliments, but here’s one that’s straight-forward: some of the floats actually reflected a tremendous amount of effort. Several of them will pop up in this post. I’ll add  a comment here and there, but I’ll mostly let the pictures tell the story.

Sometimes I think a parade could do without the bands – except for the drum corps which totally make the parade! My memories of Christmas parades as a child include great African-American Bands that mostly drummed and danced like nobody’s business. I stood in awe. I still do.

I had to include the front and the back of this one for full effect. On the front end we have a oversized gas-guzzling massive truck pulling a float that looks like it was put together that afternoon. “Happy Birthday Jesus,” indeed. I’d say he might be more pleased if we noticed the connection between gas-guzzling behemoths and the fact that the temperature was somewhere in the mid-sixties at parade time in mid-December. Or maybe he liked the bales of hay.

Awesome costumes in all three pictures. So good, I’m willing to overlook the sometimes tenuous connection to Christmas. Don’t just invite these people back, contract with them to dress everybody. Heck, let them dress the floats.

Is that a cool use of a back hoe or what?

What would possess the runner up to ride in this car?

This float was exceptionally well done. It’s so well done that I’ll over look the emphasis on the cross and resurrection. At least it’s tasteful, which is more than I can say for one that’s coming up. I kept wondering how “Jesus” would be able to keep his hands outstretched in the Jesus Position for the entire parade route. I guess it would take a miracle.

This was another one where I thought, “Do they do this anywhere outside the south?” Still, I’ll admit, it’s a pretty well-done float and it was the highlight for Urban Girl for some reason I can’t fathom. But then, I can rarely fathom how she sees the world.

Come on, people, next year make your float as elaborate as the name of your church. Please.

Seriously? It’s an RV. It has no Christmas lights. Jesus did not travel in one. Jesus would not travel in one. Where’s the gong?

This is my favorite float of the night. It’s beautiful, took a great amount of work and even the animals have a Christmas dreamy-like quality that works for me. Get these guys with the costumers and make everyone else get approval from them before they can be in next year’s parade!

Ok, first of all, this is not Easter. It is Christmas and we celebrate BABY Jesus. This is just gross and offensive and very possibly scared little children. Wrong on every single level. Do not let these people back in the door for next year’s parade. Are these the same people who have those gross aborted fetus pictures?

Another house-on-a-float. Another cross reference. It’s Christmas, people It’s not a bad looking float, I suppose.

 

I gave this guy extra credit because he had the guts to leave his University of Alabama sticker on the vehicle in the Knoxville parade. Also, the little sign on the jeep says it’s all-electric. I think Jesus liked this one.

And so, it ended as it should, with the person who is, after all, the focus of this holiday: Santa. Right? Well, rightly or wrongly while Urban Girl enjoys Jesus, she loves her some Santa Claus and I suspect Santa would do pretty well in a head-to-head poll of 3 to 6 year olds. The Santa float was very good, by the way, so the who affair ended strongly. It definitely improved on past years. Just a little attention to my constructive criticism and we may have a great parade in this city, yet. Tomorrow I go back to being less snarky. All in fun people, all in fun.