Saxonburg rings in Christmas season with holiday parade
SAXONBURG — The countdown to Christmas began in Saxonburg on Friday with the annual Holiday Parade.
Hours before the parade commenced, the streets of Saxonburg were choked. Seemingly everyone in the borough lined the streets to find the perfect spot to get a glimpse of the elaborate floats and catch some candy.
Although the parade didn’t get going until 7 p.m., the festivities kicked off with the Holiday Market at the South Butler Community Library.
The library, which is normally closed on Fridays, opened its doors and its patio at 5 p.m. for the Holiday Market, where a smattering of small vendors hawked everything from crafts to hand warmers to fudge to cocktails.
Among those vendors were Ron and Amy Bottorff of Sweet Soiree, a Pittsburgh-based traveling candy store that often travels to Butler County for such events. Sweet Soiree also came to Saxonburg for the Mingle on Main events earlier this year, as well as Sprankle’s Octoberfest.
“I love Saxonburg. They do such a great job with small businesses in general,” Ron said. “It’s just a small town vibe, and we love it.”
Two hours later, the parade commenced, with the route taking the floats and marchers straight down Main Street from the municipal building to the Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church. First down the street was the Knoch Marching Band and the Knoch cheerleaders, the latter dressed as Santa Claus
According to Joyce Hutterer of the Hutterer, Kadyk, & Stahl Realty Team, there were at least 52 entries in this year’s parade, which she said is a record.
“This is the biggest one we’ve ever had, by far,” Hutterer said.
Many of the participants in the parade also were present at the Sprankle’s Octoberfest kickoff in September. One of those was the Kiley family, who always brings their A-game when it comes to floats.
For this year’s Holiday Parade, the family themed their float after the Island of Misfit Toys from the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special.
Numerous local businesses took the opportunity to promote themselves through the parade, including Believe-N-U Fitness, W.L. Roenigk, Goosehead Insurance, Fitzgerald Dental, Kennihan Plumbing & Heating, and Saxonburg Coffee & Tea.
Eerie Acres Farm, a seasonal haunted house, brought a winter-themed version of the float they brought to the Evans City Halloween parade last month, complete with fake snow trailing from a snowblower.
J&J Farms Animal Sanctuary promoted their services by marching with several of the animals they care for at their farm, including a horse named Ronny.
“Ronny came to us through an auction. He’s a Belgian draft horse,” said Jessica Poutous, president of J&J Farms. “He has a spinal deformity called lordosis. Instead of his back being straight across, he's got a little bit of a curvature in there.”
It took over 40 minutes for the last of the vehicles to make their way down South Butler Street and turn onto Main Street. Among the last of them were two floats carrying members of various Girl Scouts from southern Butler County, including troops 52942, 21964, 52924, 28038 and 28039.
“Both of our floats are here for Girl Scouts,” said Kassie Walker. “Girl Scout cookie season is coming up.”
There were prizes awarded for the best floats in the parade.
