DeLand Jaycees Christmas Parade winners named

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DeLand Jaycees Christmas Parade winners named

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Nonprofit — Stetson University's float was voted first place in the Nonprofit category.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Commercial Float — Frontier Communications' float won first place in the Commercial Float category.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Walking Unit — The Garden Club of DeLand was voted first place in the Walking Unit category.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Musical Entry — The award for Best Musical Entry went to the DeLand High School Marching Bulldogs.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Vote — For the first time in the history of the DeLand Jaycees Christmas Parade, the winning entries were chosen by online votes submitted via The Beacon's website.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Pets, Wheels and Dolls — Christmas Dog & Elf took first-place honors in the Pets, Wheels and Dolls category.

BEACON PHOTO/MARSHA MCLAUGHLIN
Best Decorated Auto — Blue Lake Elementary Teacher of the Year Leslie Hall took the first-place prize in the Decorated Auto category.

Parade-watchers cast their ballots online

By Sarahrose Ministeri
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Dec 13, 2012 - 6:30:21am

The results are in. For the first time in the history of the DeLand Jaycees Christmas Parade, voting for the best floats and other entries was done online, via The Beacon website.

Six first-place winners were named: the DeLand High School Marching Bulldog Band, Stetson University, the Garden Club of DeLand, Frontier Communications, Blue Lake Elementary School, and a walking entry named Christmas Dog & Elf.

Parade organizers worked with The Beacon to create online voting, with the goal of a faster-moving parade. In the past, entries would stop in front of the judges' stand to perform for a minute or two, creating large gaps in the parade and slowing its progress down Woodland Boulevard in Downtown DeLand.

The experiment worked. Despite having nearly 100 entries this year, the parade lasted only about 90 minutes. In the past, a parade of more than two hours was not unusual.

Parade Chairman Mark Thompson liked the online voting.

"I loved it," Thompson said. "I think it was more of a consensus of the community."

Another change made this year, back to a daytime parade, also seemed to accomplish the goal of discouraging people from leaving trash on the streets after watching the parade. The City of DeLand urged the switch, to save money on the cost of city employees working the parade route.

The parade committee went a step further, by prohibiting all handouts except candy. It worked to cut litter, Thompson said.

"There was a lot less," he said. "There was a lot more of the trash receptacles being used."

Online votes started rolling in as the parade was in progress Dec. 1, and trends quickly took shape as favorites were picked.

Parade attendees were given a week to cast their ballots, and by the time voting ended Dec. 8, a total of 1,235 votes had been cast. Only one vote per computer was allowed.

Online voters selected first-, second- and third-place winners in six categories: Band/Musical Entry, Commercial Float, Decorated Auto, Nonprofit Float, Walking Units, and Pets, Wheels and Dolls.

The winners are listed below.

Band/Musical entry

First place — DeLand High School Marching Band

Second place — Millenium Musicians Elementary Band

Third place — Tie between the Blue Lake Elementary Band and Southwestern Middle School Band

Commercial Float

First place — Frontier Communications

Second place — DeLand Animal Hospital

Third place — Boulevard Tire Center

Decorated Auto

First place — Teacher of the Year

Second place — Worlds Our Little Miss

Third place — DeLand Little League

Nonprofit Float

First place — Stetson University

Second place — Volusia Pines Elementary School

Third place — Woodward Avenue/Starke Elementary

Pets, Wheels and Dolls

First place — Christmas Dog & Elf

Second place — Barn Brats 4H

Third place — Freestyle Fanatic

Walking Units

First place — Garden Club of DeLand

Second place — Stetson DANCE Club Sport

Third place — Cub Scouts DeLand Pack 725

— info@beaconlinenews.com

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Jim Johnson | posted Dec 20, 2012 - 10:21:52am

The parade was ok...but the best part of the day was not the parade itself. In front of me was a young man with special needs in a wheelchair. As the parade passed by....the mayor, who was driving and throwing candy to the crowd, stopped the vehicle, got out and put candy directly in this young man's hands. Was awesome. At least one other driver, later on, did the same thing.

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Paul | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 10:27:30pm

I, for one, enjoyed the return to a daytime parade. You could actually see the people marching and on the floats. It was also a safer environment and warmer, with the daylight. It also gave people a chance to shop and possibly have dinner as well, which should be a win/win for the downtown merchants. People are less likely to litter when those around can see them. We haven't missed a parade in 30 years, day or night. Just a few idle thoughts.

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aime'e | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 5:07:48pm

I hated the daytime parade. First, i missed most of the parade because i had class in daytona... by the time i got to deland, found a parking space and then find somewhere i could see the parade, it was almost over. I think i saw a total of six entrys. Wow! ... Second, why have the floats put lights on; we cant see them. It was just horrible. Will never go again if its in the daytime.

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deland | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 4:26:35pm

the parade was so ugly during the daytime --what makes christmas come alive and special are the lights---very disapointed if it is during the daytime next year i will not bother

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E | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 3:01:10pm

I love the change to a daytime parade, it benefits the small businesses downtown both before and after the parade, also my kid is not completely tired, the parade ends at an hour where you can go have a family dinner afterward and get to bed at a decent hour.

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Agreed | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 2:01:34pm

Quin is right.

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quin booth | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 11:27:26am

The daytime parade is a cop out by the organizers. The only change they made was online voting which is a joke in its own rite. It is not hard to see the volume of votes that the winners were able to cast for themselves based on the size of their community. Non partisian judging is the only thing that works. There was less garbage because ther were thousands of less people watching. It is high time the Jaycee's have this parade taken away from them. The city need to step up and run the parade at night. Do the Jaycee's even exist any longer?

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John | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 11:18:06am

I have a question about the handouts....those religious people who stand on the corner all the time, were passing out flyers and information. Why weren't they stopped? I know they have their right, but if handouts were prohibited, then they should fall in that category too.

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Bob Pearce | posted Dec 13, 2012 - 10:07:04am

Need to go back to night was the most boring christmas parade Deland has had. No fun with out all the pretty lights

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