Spectators Line Downtown Streets for Parade
Fire Department helps get ice rink ready for opening
Last updated Friday, December 3, 2004 9:36 PM CST in News
By Lana F. Flowers
The Morning News
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BENTONVILLE --Katie Palmer of Rogers came to Bentonville to see her first Christmas parade on Friday night.
She stood with her parents, Phil and Janet Palmer, watching the parade pass at the corner of Second and Main streets.
"It's such a nice evening and it is her first parade," Janet Palmer said. "It's the first one she'll remember. She is just starting to understand Christmas."
The Palmers also had a good view of skaters in the ice rink that finally opened, 2 1/2 days late, in the gazebo corner of the Midtown Shopping Center.
The rink was scheduled to open at noon Wednesday. However, employees of Ice Rink Events of Brenham, Texas, did not arrive in Bentonville on time, delaying the rink opening until 3 p.m. Friday.
The Bentonville Advertising and Promotion Commission paid to bring the ice rink back for a second year.
"I would say we've had 25 to 30 people on the ice at all times since 3 o'clock today," said Ed Upton, A&P Commission projects manager.
The Bentonville Fire Department helped the rink open by bringing trucks and high-pressure hoses to spray water on the rink. Chilling coils then freeze layers of ice to form the rink.
"They can put down a lot of water a lot faster than we can," Upton said of the fire department.
Lt. Marcus Williams said firefighters will spray water on the rink for the next two or three nights to get a thick layer of ice, "so when the warm weather does come, it doesn't melt so quick."
Weather forecasts predicted high temperatures in the mid-60s today.
People held cups of steaming hot chocolate in their gloved hands, wiped cotton candy fluff from their faces and wrapped in blankets to keep warm along the parade route Friday night.
Babies bundled in blankets sat in strollers, as the clear lighted snowflake decorations suspended from light poles lit their faces. The smells of hot popcorn and corn dogs tempted tummies, as the first sounds of marching bands drifted over the town square.
More than 60 parade floats, including pug dogs, wiener dogs, school groups, Chester the Cheetah, the Keebler Elves and lighted Corvettes from all years passed by the crowd.
P.J. Gilbert, a Bentonville resident for seven years, likened the evening to a scene from Mayberry, the town in the black and white television classic "The Andy Griffith Show."
"It's like small-town America. Would you go to a parade in downtown Dallas?" Gilbert said.
"Nah," she said, as she turned and waved to some friends.
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