CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Despite it being just under two weeks tardy, the Charleston Christmas Parade brought thousands out to the city’s downtown areas.
Amy Shuler Goodwin
“This is what Christmas is all about,” Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said.
The parade, which was originally scheduled for December 5, was postponed due to extremely low temperatures and heavy wind. The postponement brought the annual holiday tradition to Tuesday, a nice, mostly clear evening with temperatures falling no lower than 43 degrees.
Goodwin stopped by to the live parade converge by 580 WCHS Tuesday evening, and she said she witnessed countless small children enjoying themselves at the parade, and having the annual Christmas gathering in frigid temperatures would not have seen a similar turnout.
“Do you want me to have everybody out here in 12-degree weather? The answer is no,” Goodwin said. “Look how much fun the children are having, and the week before, they would not have been out here. This is always one of our top three business days in Downtown Charleston. This is why we do it on the good day.”
Goodwin says having the parade on a weeknight trumps hosting it on a Saturday morning like previous years.
“When we had it at 10 a.m. on a Saturday, we had a couple hundred people show up,” Goodwin said. “Now that we have it at 7 o’clock in the evening with all of the lights, with all of the wonderful bands and dance crews, thousands of people are here. All of our restaurants and bars are packed.”
Goodwin also says the weeknight parade flooded the Charleston streets.
“It’s absolutely packed and it’s absolutely wonderful,” Goodwin said. “This is what we want, packed streets.”
Christmas in the Capital City has brought citizens out since before parade setups, as the Charleston Dirty Birds’ “Light the Night” has proved to be a fan favorite year in and year out. Charleston’s Go Mart Ballpark is decorated with over 2.5 million lights and is equipped with an ice-skating rink in the outfield. Over the weekend, Light the Night broke its record of most visitors in a single day, with north of 11,000 people coming to the ballpark on Saturday.
Ben Salango
Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango, who sponsors and leads the charge for Light the Night, was asked about the event at Tuesday’s parade, and he said he knew it would be a hit, but admitted that he didn’t know it would contribute so much to the tourism Charleston sees during this time of year.
“It was something I knew was going to be a hit from the beginning, but I really didn’t know how big it was going to be though,” Salango said. “They’ve grown every single year. This year, they’ve got 2.5 million lights, they’ve got so many different attractions, ice skating, bumper cars. It’s a wonderful, wonderful event.”
Charleston anchor Mark Curtis, who will soon be retiring, says he saw the crowded streets in Downtown Charleston throughout Tuesday evening Christmas season.
“The restaurants are packed. This is so good for our downtown businesses. This is wonderful,” Curtis said.
Nearly 200 vehicles participated in the parade.