Published July 04, 2008 10:52 pm - For 15-year-old Sharonta Reed, Friday morning’s 24th Annual Anderson Midnight Parade had it all, even some things she didn’t like.
34th Midnight Parade 'exciting'
ANDERSON — For 15-year-old Sharonta Reed, Friday morning’s 34th Annual Anderson Midnight Parade had it all, even some things she didn’t like.
“I liked everything, except for people saying vote for people I don’t know,” said Sharonta, the daughter of Amanda and David Reed. “It’s exciting.”
With customized cars, military veterans, civic groups, and yes, politicians, Sharonta said her favorite float had a fantastical theme.
“The super hero one,” she said, “because it was funny and it had my favorite cartoon characters on there.”
Including Wonder Woman.
“They actually loved it,” said Wonder Woman, also known as Lora Holman in some circles.
Holman, 36, dressed as the iconic comic book and television super hero — including golden headband — was one of several members of Alexandria’s USS Endeavour Sci-Fi Club who rode atop of the float decked out with a large model of the “S” from Superman’s chest. Holman’s daughter, Alea, 8, dressed as the X-Man Rogue, while her son, Arrin, 7, was Spiderman.
“All the kids loved it,” said Holman, Alexandria. “I got a lot of hoots and hollers.”
Residents started the lining the streets well before the parade started, staking out the best spots to watch the floats. The event began winding down at about 1:30 a.m.
Anderson police Sgt. William Casey, department spokesman, said there were few disturbances during the event. There was no official estimate of the crowd size, but Casey estimated it was down from previous years.
“It wasn’t like it used to be — you used to have a sweltering crowd,” he said. “I don’t know if a lot of people are out of town. I couldn’t give you a estimate, but it didn’t look like years past.”