Residents delight in holiday parade, coronation

Tony Parra: PNT Staff Writer

There was a lot of jubilee from the people who saw the Christmas Jubilee Light Parade in Portales on Friday night.

The Christmas Jubilee Light Parade floats traveled down Avenue C and Second Street and the people on the floats were greeted by smiling children’s faces and clapping from the audience. The Floyd students were on the float leading the parade.

Raina Figueroa, a James Elementary student and her mother, Kim Figueroa, enjoyed the parade on Friday night. Kim said they will be spending Christmas with friends in Portales while her husband, Ed, is deployed in Iraq.

Kim said she will talk to her husband during the holiday season while he’s in Iraq.

After the parade, Floyd students sang moments before the crowning of little miss merry christmas.

Six-year-old Hannah Morgan Spears won the Miss Merry Christmas crown. Spears, a Steiner Elementary student, is the daughter of Hadley Spears. Hannah made cookies and popcorn balls to raise money to help pay for the city’s Christmas lights around Portales.

Hannah along with 4-year-old Sydney Garcia and 5-year-old Megan Lynn Stacy helped raise more than $3,000 for the Christmas lights. Hannah said she enjoys making cookies the most during Christmas time.

The downtown buildings were decorated with lights while a float from Habitat for Humanity with a small house with Christmas lights rolled down the Portales streets as part of the parade.

Yonara Pereles and Eddie Moreno watched the light parade for the first time with their daughter, Adriana Moreno, who is 10-1/2 months old while Eddie’s mother, Sandra, sat with them. Their wish for Christmas is to spend the holidays, happy with family.

Meanwhile, Roberta Romero brought her daughter and two nieces to the Christmas parade. Romero didn’t get to watch the Christmas parade in Portales last year while Rita Watkins lived in Ruidoso last year and was watching her first light parade in Portales.

The Rat Pack Jeep Club won the traveling plaque for non-profit organization, Presbyterian Church won the churches’ category and Roosevelt County Electric Coop. won the business category.

There were activities going on during the parade on the Roosevelt County Courthouse lawn, such as singing and music. Choirs for the Portales High School and Junior High sang along with members from the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Portales.

With Christmas around the corner, a couple of 8-year-olds, Jeremy Blair of Portales and Xavier Bradley of Tucumcari were looking forward to the Christmas trees this year. However, Bradley said the thing he enjoys the most about the holiday season is his birthday, which is during the season.