Thanks to all for a very merry holiday season

If you wondered how much people love the Christmas spirit and celebration, it was obvious Sunday night in Olde Towne.
The Slidell Community Golf Cart Christmas Parade was held for the third time as the brainchild of Mayor Greg Cromer, who made it clear after being elected in 2018 that he wanted to bring back a Christmas parade for the city.
While your usual Christmas parades are pretty challenging to put together if you try to get bands, holiday floats and more, the mayor had a unique idea when he decided to have a golf cart Christmas parade.
It has been a huge success since the first year, and even with the COVID interruption, the return last Sunday night made it clear the people absolutely love it.
Close to 80 golf carts joined in the parade and were decorated to the max with Christmas characters of all kinds, even giant elves, Santa’s and Grinches on top of the carts. There were more throws than a Mardi Gras parade with candy and toys, plus plenty of holiday music piped loud and clear on most of the carts.
The public showed up in Olde Towne by the thousands. You had to park pretty far away from the area to enjoy the parade, making it clear that the turnout rivaled what is one of our most popular parades here each year—St. Patrick’s Day.
If you walked the streets of Olde Towne during the parade there was so much joy on the faces of children, as well as adults, and it was clear how much people are happy to see life get back to normal after our two years of COVID lockdowns and orders.
Even the many other Christmas celebrations have drawn large crowds. Christmas Under the Stars in Griffith Park has had record numbers, and you will probably see the same at the other special holiday events, such as Greg and Peggy Cromer’s Ugly Sweater Gala this Friday night at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium, the free Northshore Orchestra concert at the auditorium on Saturday night, Dec. 17, and the Slidell Bayou Christmas in Heritage Park, that kicks off Dec. 15-18, and concludes the following weekend, Dec. 22-24.
Yes, the Christmas spirit is clearly in Slidell, and we wanted to highlight the joy of the season after seeing it at so many places.
If you see one of the many people who are behind these Christmas celebrations, give them a little thanks for making the season merrier than ever before.