Joplin Christmas parade again turns Main Street into holiday stage

Dec. 5—With the Joplin Police Department leading and Santa bringing up the rear in a Joplin firetruck, the 53rd annual Joplin Christmas parade turned Main Street into a stage for making holiday memories.

Kevin McClintock, spokesman for the parade's organizer, Freeman Health System, said there were exactly 100 entries in the 2023 parade.

No. 99

Joplin mom Laurae Hunter and her twin 9-year-old sons, Easton and Isaac Howard, were particularly excited to see entry No. 99, a special pair of semitrucks from Knight-Swift Transportation featuring bigger-than-life pictures of four young ambassadors for the Children's Miracle Network and four service dogs.

Easton, who got to ride in the parade in one of those trucks, was one of those four ambassadors, and he was featured on the side of both trucks getting a big kiss from Isaac's service dog, Ace.

"Easton's seen a picture of the truck, but he hasn't seen it in person," Hunter said. "He loves Christmas, and he loves being the center of attention. He just loves to feel special, and it's not all about his disability. It's about him."

Easton and Isaac served as grand marshals of the 2021 Christmas parade, a role usually given to adults. They led the parade's procession inside an antique pickup truck. The twins were also named Children's Miracle Network Hospitals' National Champions for 2022.

Both boys were born prematurely in May 2014 at just 26 weeks' gestation, with Easton weighing just 2 pounds and Isaac weighing 1 pound, 4 ounces. They spent the first 290 days of their lives at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, undergoing numerous surgeries.

Hunter said Easton enjoyed being the grand marshal in 2021 and that he loved getting to ride in the big truck in 2023.

"The parade in 2021 when he was the grand marshal, he had so much fun waiving at everybody so he's excited to do it again," Hunter said. "Children's Miracle Network has been helping our family for nine years, and with things from gas cards to get to his specialist appointments to anything medically necessary that insurance won't cover, they help us with. Just having that support and knowing that we may not be able to provide these things he needs but knowing that because of the donations of people in our area, we're able to get things he needs."

Carey Smith, driver of the truck in which Easton was a passenger, said the Children's Miracle Network helped his mother take care of him when he was young and had congenital leukemia.

"It's a very rare disease you can get at a very young age," Smith said. "So dealing with that, my mom was a single mother who was just doing what she could. Luckily back home in Mississippi, we had a Children's Miracle Network hospital which partnered with them, and they helped my mother take care of me. If it wasn't for CMN, I wouldn't be here to drive this truck to put smiles on children's faces."

Miles of smiles

The parade is a Joplin tradition decades old, and on Tuesday night the tradition and the smiles it brings continued.

Children and adults lined Main Street from 26th Street to Fourth Street to watch the entries pass by.

Jojo Cantrell, 9, of Joplin, has her list of reasons to come to the Joplin parade as organized as her list for Santa Claus.

"No. 1, because it's fun, No. 2, because I come every year," Cantrell said. "A lot of exciting things happen too. I normally meet people here, people that I know. It's a cool parade, and it only happens once a year."

Her grandfather, Steve Cantrell, of Carl Junction, said the parade was a chance to relive his own childhood memories.

"There's nothing like it," Steve Cantrell said. "I have five children, eight grandchildren. Jojo is the youngest, and it's kind of like reliving it all through her eyes. That's fun. It actually puts a lump in my throat to watch her have fun at the parade."

Katie Lovell, 9, of Webb City, was ready to make memories Tuesday night.

"This is probably one of the most magical moments I could probably have as memories," she said. "I like spending time with my siblings. They are probably the best people I could have with me, and I really love being out here seeing the parade."

Her dad, Alex Smith, said the reason for coming to the parade is to make memories with his children.

"It is cold and kind of hard to get in and out and everything, but we'll always remember this as a family," Smith said while holding month-old son Valor. "Maybe someday she'll bring her kids here. It's a good tradition."

Freeman President and CEO Paula Baker said this was Freeman's ninth year putting the parade together for Joplin, and the hospital was pleased to be able to continue what she called a "time-honored tradition."

"People come and they find their spot on the sidewalk to see the parade, all the entries," she said. "So it's a very, very special time and we are honored to be a part of it. There are over 100 volunteers that help to put everything together for the parade from getting the entries to lining up the floats to making sure it goes flawlessly. So our employees jump in with both feet. They love doing it, but there are a tremendous amount of work hours involved in this and a fair amount of stress in making sure it goes off smoothly. And we are so thrilled to do it."

Joplin Mayor Doug Lawson said the parade brings back memories of his own childhood watching it on the very same street.

"It's a tradition that's kept on, and it's a good thing," Lawson said. "It brings Joplin together. Joplin is a happy place, and you discover that when you come here."