'Tis the season
Dec. 3—LEESBURG/ALBANY — Beauty queens, marching bands, horse riders, colorful floats and — of course — the man of the season, Santa Claus, strutted their stuff through downtown Leesburg and Albany Saturday as the two neighboring communities held annual holiday parades and festivals.
A large crowd lined the streets of Leesburg early Saturday morning for the annual parade that kicked off a daylong festival. Paradegoers left their perches along city streets after the parade passed through, heading for events that included live music, kids' games, opportunities to have photos made with the Big Guy and other fun activities.
Lee County High School students in the school's theater program kicked off the day's activities with their "Breakfast with Santa" fundraiser prior to the parade.
Many parade lovers got a double dose of fun when they drove the 12 miles from Leesburg to downtown Albany for the 32nd Celebration of Lights festival.
The fun in downtown Albany started mid-afternoon with food trucks and arts and crafts booths galore in the city's "Christmas Village." After a somewhat solemn tree-lighting ceremony that featured family members of three citizens who lost their lives this year — late Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker, city employee breast cancer patient Angela Price, and Civil Rights leader Charles Sherrod — and performances by local musicians, the "Rock 'n' Roll Christmas" parade started with a bang ... and just kept coming.
More than 100 entries were part of the parade, one of the largest in the city's history.
