12.13- Spirit of Christmas & Luminaries, Part Three

Luminaries along Hodges Street at the close of Oriental's Spirit of Christmas celebration
(Click on image or here for full size)

This year's Oriental Spirit of Christmas celebration concluded today with a host of activities that included the Spirit of Christmas street parade and the post-parade luminary-illuminated streets.

This morning and afternoon, many local businesses held open-house, serving all comers with food and refreshments... folks walked around from business to business to sample the goods and socialize... some places proved more popular than others, as evidenced by the lines (or lack of lines) for their offerings:

The Spirit of Christmas was strong with the owner of this Austin-Healey "Bugeye" Sprite:

Santa Claus and one of his elves strolled around town (or cruised in the Santa-mobile, seen below)...

Santa happily posed for pictures with fans, though here it looks like Happy herself (on right, and yes that is her name) is a little shy about approaching... Santa is used to this reaction though, and soon had coaxed Happy comfortably to his side for a souvenir photo:

The Tiki Bar at Oriental Harbor & Marina sponsored ginger-bread-house contest... one of the entries was a model of the Tiki Bar itself, though the ginger-patrons look like they could use some tall stools:

Dave Collins & Band entertained the Tiki crowd:

As parade time approached, volunteers started lighting the 3,000 luminaries lining the Town's streets:

The Spirit of Christmas parade started up about 4:00 pm, led by a marching band:

MORE PICTURES OF THE PARADE:

The Sudan Mourners krewe brought out their mule-drawn hearse to celebrate Christmas (I guess that is some sort of secret Shriner thing)



The Red Hat Society ladies were having a blast, tossing candy to parade spectators... many younger spectators came prepared for candy with bags to hold their horde



The Sailing Club of Oriental float featured their past and current Commodores



The old Town of Oriental fire truck, complete with dalmatian

Two of the several "Gator-carts" driven by the Sudan Shriners

No Oriental celebration is complete without dogs!



A local church float (didn't catch the name) reminded all of the Christian interpretation of mid-winter festivals



But the parade closed with a less Biblical symbol of the season, Santa Claus, who of course in Oriental arrives by U.S. Coast Guard boat

After the parade, and after the sun set, the full glory of all those luminaries was revealed along Oriental streets... many folks walked around in the rapidly cooling air to take in the sight of 3,000 roadside candles:

The railing along South Avenue on the Neuse River waterfront, was illuminated by luminaries and a particularly bright full moon rising over the river



Broad Street, looking north from the foot of the bridge



Intersection of Factory Street, Freemason Street, and Church Street

NOT ENOUGH PICTURES FOR YOU?
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