APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Light, misty rain didn’t dampen holiday spirits or keep people away from the annual ‘Downtown Appleton Christmas Parade’ on Tuesday night.
College Avenue transformed into the ‘Avenue of Angels’ for the 54th edition of this popular holiday season event. Event organizers promote it as the largest nighttime Christmas parade in the Midwest. It attracts about 80,000 spectators each year from all over the country and even other countries.
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Paula Shook came all the way from Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, to take in the parade. She said that every year she makes the trip down to Northeast Wisconsin for the holiday to visit family, but that this was the first year she came to the parade.
“Just to see family and being with family and having fun it was worth the snowstorm I drove through to get here,” she said.
Shook and her family staked out a spot in front of Topper’s Pizza to watch the parade. She said the atmosphere impressed her.
“I’m in awe I looked up at those angels and it’s just beautiful,” she told Local 5 News.
The parade featured about 80 units including more than 20 marching bands. The parade began at the corner of State Street and College Avenue in downtown Appleton and travels east on College Avenue to Drew Street.
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Local 5 News exclusively broadcast the parade live on Tuesday night. To see photos from the parade, please click here. To find out which floats from the parade won awards, please click here.
