Parading Santa

As Emily Le Coz wrote in this week's Lee County Neighbors, Santa Claus has been busy in the days leading up to Christmas - and that includes riding in Christmas parades all over the world. Anytime there's a parade, you can count on jolly old St. Nick to be the main attraction. I went to six Christmas parades last week and snapped these shots of Santa:

Here's Santa in Nettleton's parade Dec. 1. I think it's a requirement for Santa to be a good candy thrower, but he nailed me a few times with peppermints as I was walking next to his sleigh.



Santa didn't have far to go for his next parade. Tuesday night, he was parading a few miles to the west in Shannon. Santa uses his overhand motion to throw candy in Shannon, as opposed to his pitchout motion in Nettleton.



Thursday night, Santa was riding through the streets of Baldwyn. As for why his hand is partially over his face, either he's waving or trying to shield his face to keep me from taking his picture.



There were two Santas in the Reed's Tupelo Christmas parade Saturday morning. I believe this Santa, who was walking behind the Itawamba Community College band, is one of the real Santa's helpers or a Santa-In-Training.



Here's Santa in his familiar spot - in his sleigh at the end of the Tupelo parade. It was the start of a long day for him.



Saturday afternoon, Santa cruised over to Sherman for that town's parade. He also brought along a helper to assist him with the candy throwing.



Saturday evening, Santa wrapped up his busy day in Guntown. And look who came along with him - Mrs. Claus. While Santa was in Tupelo and Sherman, Mrs. Claus was busy gathering more candy for the good boys and girls along the parade route.



And as you can see, Mrs. Claus can throw candy just as good as Santa.



Santa, however, didn't ride in Saltillo's parade Tuesday night. The parade was canceled because of bad weather, and it will not be rescheduled. Santa promises he'll be at next year's Saltillo parade. Rumor has it that Santa wound up at the Carrie Underwood/Little Big Town concert at BancorpSouth Arena. One of his helpers had an extra ticket.

Weather permitting, Santa will be in Verona Thursday night and in Plantersville Saturday morning. Santa photos from those parades will be posted this weekend.

2009 Miss Tupelo Pageant

The above slideshow is a sampler of what you'll see when the "Miss Tupelo 2009" folder is posted on Djournal.com's Photo Gallery. I turned over the photos to the Journal photography staffers to upload Tuesday morning, but they had a busy schedule and couldn't get to it. I'm hopeful the photos will be posted sometime this week.

You may have noticed a trend in the slideshow. The contestants' photos are from the evening gown of the competition. There were five competing for Miss Tupelo - winner Adrian Turner, Molly Anna Baulch, Sara Plunkett, Ariel Turner and Natalie Hill. The rest are Miss Teen contestants, including winner Ashley Neal.

Some of the photos are posted on Facebook. Search my name and you'll see two Miss Tupelo photo albums. I'm amazed how fast word gets around when photos are posted on Facebook. I'll add more in the coming days.

Saltillo "Howlween" Party

Downtown Saltillo was the site of a doggone good time Saturday, Oct. 25 for the Pet Howlween Party, featuring a pet costume contest and dog parade. SGK Pet Designs, DB's Floral Designs and Two Brothers Pizza joined together to host the event.

About 35 dogs decked out in Halloween garb ranging from a Batman outfit to one pooch turning green like the Incredible Hulk. They strolled along the sidewalk in front of the judges to win various prizes.

Costume Contest

There were pretty kids, funny kids and some very creepy kids at the Tupelo Farmer's Market on Saturday for the Halloween costume contest. There were 81 entries with various prize winners for both boys and girls in three age groups. It looks like these kids are ready to trick-or-treat.

Bike Ride

A group of motorcycles rumbled through Guntown on Saturday, Oct. 18, but the riders weren't there to cause trouble. They were riding for a good cause: supporting vision-impaired children in our state.

The event was the first Bike Ride, sponsored by the Mississippi Parents of Blind Children. The organization, for now mostly made up of parents in north Mississippi, used the bike ride as a fundraiser. James Gusmus, the guy you see in the photos with the light beige jacket, was chairman of the bike ride. Patsy Sartin of Belden is president of Mississippi Parents of Blind Children.

The riders started from Guntown, went up U.S. 45 to Corinth, cut across to Iuka, went back down Highway 25 to the Natchez Trace and then cruised back into Guntown for a fish fry.

Body Walk

Body Walk, a fun and educational activity for children sponsored by the Mississippi Extension Service, was open for kids to venture through Oct. 13-16 at the Lee County Agri-Center's Magnolia Building.

The walk, which is built for children to move through with ease, is split into segments devoted to these parts of the body: brain, mouth, stomach, small intestine, heart, lungs, bones, muscle and skin.

When I arrived, I decided to follow one set of kids - a group from Camille Shumpert's third-grade class at Mooreville Elementary School - the entire way. The kids, Mrs. Shumpert and I had a great time walking and learning from each section. It was quite informative. I appreciate Mrs. Shumpert and her students - Sydney Armstrong, Charlotte Deeters, Farrah Hester, Hanna Donald, Sam Morgan, Trey White, Brady Hood, Kelsey McIntosh and Jahquantee Rogers - for letting me tag along.

Multi-Purpose Center Luau

Just because you reach a certain age, it doesn't mean you can't have fun. The people who attend the Lee County Multi-Purpose Center for the Elderly in Tupelo are proof.

About a hundred Senior Citizens enjoyed a Hawaiian luau Thursday morning at the center. And as you can see from the slideshow accompanying this post, it was a festive occasion with games, music, snacks and lots of smiles. Edna Ruth Dobbs, Neighbors' Senior News correspondent, was there. (That's Edna in the white blouse on and the wall clock behind her midway through the slideshow).

One of the highlights came when Shelton Shannon, the center's director, and Robert Smith, a member and volunteer at the Verona senior center, dressed up as hula dancers and performed for the audience. They got a little outrageous in their performance, and everyone got a big laugh out of it.

Guntown Firefighter Challenge

The firefighter challenge was introduced to this year's Guntown Cotton Fest on Sept. 27. The day-long event attracted firefighters from various departments, and they competed in a variety of team and individual skills competitions.

Some of the photos were taken by me. Others that have the yellow datestamp are courtesy of Carol Patterson of the Guntown Volunteer Fire Department.

Welcome

Welcome to the new Lee County Neighbors blog, updated by Neighbors Editor Bobby Pepper. It you want to view the previous blog, click this link. I ran into some technical problems with this site and switched to blogger.com.

The first entries are photos from recent assignments, but additional features are on the way. Feel free to post comments.