2011 Spencer Parade of Lights

Aaron J. Keyes

On Saturday, December 3, the Town of Spencer along with surrounding towns, got together for the 3rd Annual Christmas Parade of Lights.  Wendy Berthiaume, Chair of the Spencer Celebration Committee, told me that there were 35 floats in the parade.

The parade has seen increased participation, both in floats and crowd attendance, over the past three years.  In addition to being a wonderful parade, the event is also a friendly competition. As the floats keep getting better, the competition is more intense each year.  The competition categories are "Best Lighted Float" and "Best Ligthed Fire Engine."  The winner of the "Best Lighted Float" category is awarded $300 by the Spencer Celebration Committee and the winner of the "Best Fire Engine" category is awarded a beautiful crystal cup.  The cup stays with the winner for the entire year until the next parade where it is up for grabs again.

This year, we were honored to have Lidea Berube, Spencer's oldest residet at 101, serve as the parade's Grand Marshal for the second year in a row.  She was presented with a certificate of appreciation by Selectmen Tony Pepe and Donnie Berthiaume.

The winner for Best Float was the Spencer Emergency Management Agency.  This is the third year in a row that they have won first place and received the $300 award.  Other winners include:

Best Lighted Float
Third place - Spencer Furniture
Second place - Camp Marshal

Best Lighted Fire Engine
Third Place - Spencer Fire Department, Ladder 1
Second Place - Spencer Fire Department, Forrestry 1
First Place - Spencer Fire and Rescue

Spencer Cable Access was on hand to cover the event in partnership with Charter Communications. Charter was kind enough to bring their remote broadcast van to get some great shots of the parade.  I want to thank Joseph Peters and Kris McMullin from Charter for coming out to do this, as well as Kyle Sullivan, Caleb & Sarah Itterman, and Ashely Gervais from Spencer Cable Access for covering camera and bearing the cold.

Here is a 10-minute excerpt from the parade.

The parade can be seen on SCA Channel 12 as well as on Charter OnDemand.