Who doesn’t like a parade?
Have you ever been to a parade at night?
We have! This Sunday will be the
eighth year that our family will attend the “Razzle Dazzle Light Parade” in Putnam, CT.
We started attending the first year when Einey was just one
year old. Since then, we have attended
every year since with kids in various ages.
When Moe was 2 months old, she slept in her front pack under my sweater,
with only her stocking feet hanging out.
Back to the parade.
There are floats, bands, marchers, fire trucks. Scout troops, churches, bike demonstrations. Many local groups (and quite a few from
across the state) descend on Putnam every year to make this parade one to
remember. Since the parade starts at
5pm, it’s dark. Every float, every group,
is decked out in light, twinkling lights.
My girls love it and ask for it every year, so it quickly became a
family tradition. They remember the
lights, the magic, and the sounds. The
parade follows a 1.5 mile loop, starting on Grove Street and taking a right onto South Main Street. From there, they take a left onto Front Street and
then a right onto Kennedy Drive, finishing up with a right onto Providence
Ave. The
whole parade usually lasts around 1.5 hours.
Our parade plan has evolved throughout the years, but I will
share it with you. First and foremost,
it’s cold, usually very cold. There has
only been one year that I remember that it was warm out. So dress in layers. The girls are usually snug in their snow
pants (layered over fleece pajamas – it makes bedtime wicked easy after), ski jackets,
hats and mittens. In addition to chairs,
bring some blankets to wrap around you.
Make sure as an adult, you dress warmly as well. We bring an insolated tote bag with a carafe
of hot chocolate (although there are a few places set up where you can buy your
own hot chocolate) and a cup for each of us.
We also make sure we have a good sized bag to bring home various loot
and candy that they parade marchers hand out.
Since we park near the beginning of the parade route, we typically get a
lot of loot, whereas the people at the other end are usually out of luck. I think they are the lucky ones! We typically park on Canal Street in the vicinity of the
parking lot (but not in the parking lot) so that we can just head down Canal Street to Kennedy Drive and
back the 395. Typically, we are out of
there within 10 minutes after the parade goes by. Depending on where you park, it can take
forever to get out. We park there and
walk over to the area near the bank and watch from there. We usually try to arrive around 15 minutes
prior to the parade and our plan has worked so far. A majority of people crowd the Kennedy Drive portion of the parade route (which isn’t saying the other are isn’t crowded, we
always manage to find a spot).
If you’re looking to arrive early, I would recommend dining
at one of these restaurants on the parade route: Nikki’s Doghouse, Bella’s, Someplace Special,
or The Courthouse. For coffee or warm
drinks, I would highly recommend Victoria Station Café. All can be found right on Main Street
.
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