'VERY IMPRESSED': Christmas Parade attracts thousands to Main Street

Left: Makenna Rossiter, topped with a decorative candy cane hair band, watches from her stroller. Right: Crestview High School varsity cheerleader Victoria Fader passes by parade-goers on Main Street. Bottom: Shoal River Middle School band students Grace Weeks, Braden Majors and Aniston Woolfe wear smiles in downtown Crestview.

CRESTVIEW — The Main Street Crestview Association and city's Christmas Parade rolled downtown on Saturday.

Here's what our Facebook fans had to say about it:

•Shalotta Denmon: "As new residents of Crestview, we were very impressed with the parade."

•Beth Brinker Olney: "I think Santa coming five minutes after the rest of the floats was sad; a lot of people around us left thinking there was no Santa in the parade. The rest was great! Really enjoyed it."

•Erin Gygi Waters: "I think more adults could have stepped back and let the kids enjoy more along the rail … I witnessed a bunch of adults catching stuff before kids."

•Kenneth Pratt: "The new rule for tossing candy was to toss it towards the street; a lot of (parade participants) threw it in the air." Still, he said, "It was a great parade."

The parade participant contest's winners are as follows.

Commercial/Government/Individual

•First Place: Crestview Wholesale

•Second Place: SpeeDee Printing/Lou Lou Beans

Church/Religious Group: First Place (tie): Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church and New Beginnings Baptist Church

Civic/School/Youth Group

•First Place: Knights of Columbus Assembly 2789 and Council 7968

•Second Place (tie): 4-H The Roundup & 4H Country Club; and Crestview Elks Lodge 2624

Window decorating contest

•Large window: Forever Victorian Antique Mall

•Small window: LPL Financial

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'VERY IMPRESSED': Christmas Parade attracts thousands to Main Street