- April 26, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
For a video clip of the parade, see the link below this story.
Cheerleaders waved pompoms, marching band musicians beat on drums and blared on trumpets, and Air Force JROTC cadets bearing flags set the cadence for Bunnell’s centennial celebration Saturday, leading a march before hundreds of spectators waiting along Church Street and State Road 100.
A convoy of shiny antique cars followed behind the Air Force JROTC cadets from Flagler Palm Coast High School, and drivers and passengers threw candy to the crowd lining the streets as children scrambled to collect it.
Altogether, said parade grand marshal and former Bunnell mayor Joanne King, about 25 groups took part in the parade.
“I knew it would go well,” King said. “Everyone worked so hard.”
FPC’s bandmembers — marching in full uniform with their heavy bass drums and trombones and tubas in the late-afternoon sun — certainly did, and FPC Band director John Seth was pleased with how well the kids performed.
“It’s been great,” he said after the march. “It’s always nice to bring the kids into the community and support the community.”
About 190 FPC students took part in the march as members of the marching band or the cheerleading Starlets, Seth said.
About 60 kids between the ages of 4 and 14 also showed up with the Flagler Wolf Pack youth football and cheerleading team, marching with the group or riding on the float they had decorated with the team colors of orange and black and the words “Happy Birthday Bunnell.”
The Wolf Pack took the first place in the Best of Parade contest, and team members Kevin Esparza, 11, and Sebastian Forero, 12, took the group’s trophy from Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson after she announced the team’s win.
After the parade, the crowd munched on hot dogs, cotton candy and funnel cakes and shopped at stands selling rubber-band guns and glowing plastic whirligigs.
Kids bounced in the bounce house set up next to the city hall building, and Bunnell police officers and Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies chatted with community members.
The celebration ended in the evening with a professional fireworks show, and the crowd cheered, clapped and hollered as as the last bursts lit up the dark sky.
Flagler Wolf Pack President Maria Schalit said she was pleased by the way the day turned out.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “It was nice to see all of the community really come out and celebrate.”
To see a video clip of the parade, visit: https://youtu.be/Y8o3OriB8n0.
