We were in the Greensboro Christmas parade last Saturday, with the Relay For Life committee. It was really windy and we didn't want everything to blow off the float, so we didn't decorate it until we had checked in with parade officials and gotten into line. Four of us got the heavy lifting done in about 30 minutes, and the rest of our group put the finishing touches on in another 15. The parade theme was "Our Gift to Greensboro"; we had packages wrapped in purple (the Relay color) and emblazoned with Relay slogans, a purple tree, and a bunch of kids on the float.
Once the prep was done, we had an hour-and-a-half before the parade kicked off. One of the committee members brought doughnuts and hot chocolate. It was really cold, so the hot chocolate was appreciated. So was the sugar rush from the doughnuts.
Thank goodness there was a Duron paint store nearby with a public restroom.
We had candy and Relay literature to give out to the crowds. There were so many kids with their hands out that we were constantly behind our float, so it was pass out candy manically and then run to catch up with the float. I couldn't have run like that six months ago.
It was way more fun than I expected it to be. It also has already had a positive effect for the 2009 Relay, because we got a commitment from Starbucks.
