Parade Turnout Exceeded Expectations

SHAWANO, WI- To say the 2020 Shawano Santa Parade was a success may be an understatement.

The Shawano Business Improvement District counted around 900 vehicles that drove through Main Street to see the exhibits Friday night.

Businesses and Non-Profits created floats or displays to be positioned along both sides of Main Street. Vehicles lined up to take a drive to take in all the Christmas festivities without having to leave the safety of their own vehicle.

Lindsay Johnson of the Shawano BID said because of the high turnout, the plans they had in place did not go completely as drawn up.

“We made 750 goodie bags with candy and other things, and we thought that was a lot,” Johnson said. “We did run short so we feel bad about that. We could have just never had predicted that would have a turnout like that.”

She said traffic backups were another hiccup.

“We figured a lot of people would be lined up to come at 6:00 pm and trail off from there, but that did not happen, the cars kept coming all night, much to our surprise.”

She added where things became a mess was the length of traffic lines on the streets leading up to Elizabeth Street.

“We did have people directing traffic to Elizabeth Street, but we did not have them directing as far out as the traffic ended up being said.”

Johnson said one concern was making sure emergency vehicles could get to where they needed to if needed even with the streets being full of cars.

“I was in constant contact with the Shawano Police Department to make sure that they could respond to emergency calls and they were still able to” Johnson said.

Due to the number of people driving through, the parade even went beyond the originally scheduled time, which Johnson said she noticed that most of the floats stayed in place for all of the cars to enjoy.

“We did not shut it off just because it was 8:00pm.” Johnson said the last vehicle went through at about 8:45.”

Johnson said even with the few un-planned circumstances, it was a night to remember in Shawano.

“The other option would have been to cancel the event, but we did not want to do that. It did serve the purpose of keeping the tradition alive in Shawano, and while it worked well, the plan is not to have to do this again next year.”

Award Winners:

Peoples Choice: Luigis Pizza and Pasta