Albany’s “Celebration of Lights” parade draws thousands | PHOTO GALLERY

ALBANY — Despite an unusual rainy start, the annual “Celebration of Lights” Christmas Parade drew thousands of festive citizens to downtown Albany Saturday for what organizers called one of the best parades in recent memory.

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Lorie Farkas, who has long been a fixture in helping to organize the parade through Albany’s Water, Gas & Light Commission, said that this was the first year in the parade’s history that organizers have had to deal with rain, which had many concerned as the 6 p.m. start time quickly approached.

“We worried all day and watched the weather,” Farkas said. “We’ve had some parades when it was very cold, in the 20s, but in 24 years it’s ever rained.”

Farkas said her worries turned to excitement though as both entrants and spectators alike began arriving undaunted in the wet conditions. In fact, Farkas said the rain ended up having a pleasant affect on the atmosphere of the event that she had not anticipated.

“People started arriving and they pulled out their umbrellas,” said Farkas. “If you looked out it looked like a sea of flowers with all the different colors of umbrellas. It was really beautiful.”

Farkas said it was also a beautiful sight for her to see so many citizens and supporters brave the elements to take part in a holiday tradition like the parade.

“The community spoke,” said Farkas. “This year’s parade was as big as it’s ever been. It tells you how much the parade means to our citizens that they’d come out despite the rain. It’s the promise of Christmas (also this year’s parade theme), which means so many different things to so many people. This event brings people of all walks of life together and brings out the best in people.”

One groups Farkas was particularly proud of were the many volunteers who have been working as far back as January to plan and make the parade a reality.

“So many people worked so hard to make this thing happen,” said Farkas. “The volunteers, the planning committee, the community as a whole. It warms your heart to see that much work toward something good. It’s a testament to our citizens.”

That spirit of doing their best could also be seen in the quality of the different floats and other parade entries, which Farkas said were some of the best she’d ever seen.

“People did a great job this year,” she said. “I was very impressed with all the great looking floats.”

A couple that caught not only Farkas’ eye, but the eyes of others in the crowd were Chehaw’s float and a float manned by one of Albany’s most popular music groups, Unbreakable Bloodline (UBL).

Chehaw grabbed attention with their meticulous float that was decorated in honor of Toys for Tots (Chehaw’s Festival of Lights is a drop off point during the holidays) and featured employees dressed as various well-known toys like a wind-up doll, Raggedy Ann, an army man and a cowgirl atop a zebra among others.

UBL, which first played a live show atop a flatbed truck in last year’s parade, continued to wow the crowd this year, rocking through a variety of their upbeat songs as a group of fans walked along side the truck.

“I really thought the UBL float was really cool,” said Heather McCluskey of Leesburg, who attended the festivities with her family. “A lot of the floats were good, but a band playing like that was great. It was different.”

With over 80 entries to the parade there were plenty more that got the crowd excited, but for many in attendance, no parade is complete without marching bands, and this year’s parade did not disappoint with bands from several area schools, including some from surrounding communities, participated.

“My favorite part of the parade are the marching bands,” said Albany’s Michael Perry, who was especially excited to see the band from his alma mater, Albany High School. “I come every year and I really love to hear the bands.”

Asked if he considered skipping this year’s parade due to the weather, Perry said, “absolutely not.”

“The rain doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “I never considered not coming. It’s a tradition.”