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The city of Helena bustled with excitement as the annual Christmas parade was held on Saturday, Dec 3. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By LIZZIE BOWEN | Staff Writer

 HELENA – The city of Helena bustled with excitement as the 52nd annual Christmas parade made its way through Old Town on Saturday, Dec 3.

Members of the Helena community were present and atop floats and threw candy to those in attendance.

Helena High School was present, and its band played “Joy to the World” as the majorettes twirling behind them.

The Helena librarians walked down the parade route with a decorated sign and encouraged attendees of the parade to visit the library.

Helena Middle School’s football team tossed candy to the parade goers as they rode atop their float.

The Shelby Starlets walked in the parade in festive gold sequins as they twirled batons and danced to festive music.

The star of the show, Santa Claus was on top of a firetruck, waved and smiled to the children, excited to see him.

The Grinch trotted down the parade route and tossed out candy to the kids lined down the street.

Mayor Brian Puckett said his favorite part of the parade was seeing all the children smiling on the side of the road.

“Community is what you make it,” Puckett said. “We made have 23,000 residents here, but we want to keep that small-town community, and events like this is one of the drivers behind that.”

Puckett said that events like the annual Christmas Parade and the Christmas Tree Lighting are held to promote the sense of community in the city of Helena.

“This is one of the events that this community looks forward to each and every year because it brings the community together,” Puckett said. “It is one of those things that makes Helena what it truly is.”

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