December 23, 2013 Starring as a Snowflake Can Be Hard Work Everybody loves a parade  rightt?  Picture this:  a crystal clear, brisk winter evening, thousands of twinkling, multi-colored lights, store windows displaying mouth-watering displays of merchandise....put it all together and you will have the Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade, an event of epic proportions that, in 15 years of existence, has become a must-see tradition.  Enchanting to watch, most definitely. But to participate in:  incredible.

Years ago I had opportunity to experience the Holidazzle parade.  Intended as a surprise to my then 10 year-old son, my oldest sister and I originally planned on taking him to the parade and attempt to get him on a float as an extra volunteer.  What we did not anticipate, though, was that we all would become a part of the production.

As we arrived, our first impression of downtown Minneapolis, on the Nicollet Mall, was one of awe as we stared at the sparkling-lit trees strewn down the street.  Merchandise in the store windows were artfully displayed in a dreamlike manner.  A bevy of red-clad Santa Clauses greeted us, wandering the street, sipping cappuccino drinks.  Just prior to that they had participated in an organized race on the downtown mall.

We registered our names to be 'extras' and hoped we would be needed.    As we dawdled in the hallway of the Hyatt Hotel amongst hundreds of other participants ranging in every age imaginable, a distant casting call was heard, "We need two more flakes over here," the man said.

Could we handle the assignment?  Could we do it?  

We decided to give it a whirl and stepped forward to volunteer.  In the blink of an eye, or the twinkle of a light, we were whisked away to the staging area where a 16-pound power pack, resembling a small car battery, was strapped to each of our lower backs. As snowflakes, we were told, we would come very last in the parade, announcing Santa Claus in his glorious glowing float.  Mulling about the street outside the hotel, we could not help but wonder what we had gotten ourselves into.

  

Outside on the street, waiting our turn, we stuck together with the rest of the 'flakes'.   The crowds gathered along the 7-block route at a rate of approximately 3,000 per city block.  An estimate of total spectators was about 30,000 or so, all out to take in the holiday extravaganza. Before long, we happened upon a very small snowflake, adorned just the same as we were.   This experienced little flake told us that it was easy, all we had to do was 'high-five' everyone and say “Merry Christmas!”  Assured that we could indeed handle the assignment, we awaited the lighting of the floats that signaled the start of the parade.  Soon Santa boarded his sleigh and we were off.  We walked ahead of the float, serenaded by Santa, who sang Christmas favorites to his fans of every age.  Now, setting aside our doubts, it did not take long to fall into the snowflake characters, presenting Santa to his adoring fans. We danced and twirled, we high-fived them, and we hollered "Merry Christmas!" to the spectators.  Sparkles of joy danced in their eyes as we were transoformed from mere human beings to utter star status.  (Though we were technically snowflakes, as the stars came first in the parade, we were repeatedly mistaken for stars.)  When all was said and done, we had shaken hands and greeted hundreds of people along the route. By the time we hit the last block we snowflakes had begun to melt.

I suddenly remembered the battery pack, and how heavy it really was.  All of us snowflakes had melted somewhat as we made our way along the trek.  Awaiting us at the end of the parade were several metropolitan buses  aglow  in a sea of twinkling lights that shuttled us back to where we began.   We disembarked, eager to shed the adornments. Together we had resembled a unified, impressive sight to the crowd.  But in doffing the elaborate snowflake headpieces, we realized that each was a unique flake in our own right.  We had lived up to the adage that no two snowflakes were completely alike, for they come in all sizes and shapes. More than fifty thousand Christmas tree lights covered the costumes of parade participants. And that's enough to light up the night sky completely, not to mention the many faces that we encountered along the way that night.