Cannon lights up streets

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE — The holiday season is well under way at Cannon Air Force Base as hundreds of airmen, their families and friends came out for the base’s annual tree lighting and holiday parade on Thursday.

Lt. Col. Michael Stone, commander of the Force Support Squadron, which sponsored the event, and Sara Williams, the base’s school liaison officer who also helped coordinate the activities, said they were happy with the turnout. Stone said it was better than last year thanks to some warmer weather.

“Everyone seemed like they had a great time. We had lots of floats, lots of excitement, a lot of yelling, so it was really good,” Williams said.

The parade featured dozens of floats designed by squadrons on base and several community organizations including the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, Plains Regional Medical Center and Portales Boy Scouts Troop 18.

“This year we had community involvement, which normally we don’t do. It’s usually just more base-oriented, so we really want to start building our community bonds,” Williams said.

The airmen presence was certainly still felt during the parade as the 27th Special Operations Wing Communications Squadron, 27th SOW Support Squadron and Cannon Family Homes took home the first-, second- and third-place prizes, respectively, for their floats.

After the parade and before the tree lighting, Clovis elementary students performed several Christmas carols.

There was a brief scare when the Christmas tree did not illuminate following the crowd’s countdown, but after a few seconds and a second countdown, the blue, green and red lights brightened up the area around the Landing Zone.

“All I remember is saying, ‘Please turn on’ and it didn’t turn on,” Williams said. “The test run went great so that was kind of frustrating, but overall good success.”

Stone said events like the holiday parade are critical for maintaining morale for airmen both while they are on base and deployed.

“The quality of time they spend with their family here on this base is what I devote my mission to, to make sure they get their morale and their resiliency while they’re here so that when they go off to fight and deploy, they know that they’re refreshed and their family is taken care of,” Stone said.