Fort Hall's first Parade of Lights, lights up community
Language & Cultural Preservation Department's float.
By ROSELYNN YAZZIE
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — The Fort Hall Recreation Program had a successful turnout of spectators and floats for their first Parade Lights on Friday, December 18.
Mike Sakelaris, Recreation manager, said they had 19 floats sign up, but more showed to the event. He estimated there was about 30 floats total. The parade route started at the Timbee Hall gym and went down Hiline Road, down Ross Fork Road to Eagle Road and back down Agency Road.
Emceeing the event from the front of the line, on top of the Recreation sleigh, was Bob Johnson, who said he was glad to see the participation of everyone.
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Public Works float.
Floats were made up of different tribal departments such as Vocational Rehab, who went with a Grinch theme; Fort Hall Casino who decked out their shuttle in lights; Solid Waste had a dump truck with a “Rock your mask” and rock and roll theme; Language & Culture Preservation Department, had a beautifully lit up teepee. The local organization Fort Hall Roar, also had a float, and had a few dogs join in on the fun. Bigfoot, himself, also made an appearance in the parade. The Fort Hall Fire Department brought Mr. & Mrs. Claus and Smokey the Bear. Fort Hall Indian Day Queen Thalia Burnette and Northwest Indian Youth Conference Queen Myke Moore, joined in on the fun as well, waving to the people, Fort Hall Police Department provided escort of the parade, to name a few.
Nola Cates and her family entered a float, which resembled a lit-up wagon, and even had a snow machine blowing snow from it – in the case there was no snow, which there wasn’t. Her daughter Jaycee Weed, said they started working on their float last weekend and they used two generators to light up the truck.
Sak said it was really cool to see the little kids out there grabbing the candy, which they gave out a lot of.
“I think we brought some real joy out here to Fort Hall,” he said. “You know that cloud that’s hanging over us? Maybe it lifted a little bit.”
Eddy Kniffin, Recreation supervisor, said they brainstormed ideas for a socially distanced holiday event and came up with the Parade of Lights, which is something neighboring town like Pocatello also do.
Kniffin said they put a safety plan together and had the floats fill out paperwork for safety protocol.
Local royalty in attendance wave to the crowd.
Some of the safety measures included asking the public to maintain a 20-foot distance between vehicles; keep children in or immediately near a car; wear a mask if exiting vehicle; no hugs or handshakes.
Kniffin said their department is open to trying anything and if it doesn’t work they may try it again later.
He said there were no prizes for floats.
To anyone who attended, it was easy to see the real prize was to bring a little bit of positivity to the community.
