They were parades to rival any Macy’s Thanksgiving Day production. Bands played, Floats passed by, balloons floated aloft and candy was thrown to waiting youngsters. And Santa, of course, made an appearance.
The parades were the unique creations of students at Cleveland and Eisenhower elementary schools, whose students had worked for days on decorating their floats and balloons for this special moment on the last day of school before Thanksgiving break.
At Cleveland, fifth graders had worked for weeks on thinking up designs for their floats. Jeanuel Cruz was part of a team making a Rocket League car from a cardboard box, construction paper and glue. Cruz explained that the team was split between students who like two different video games.
“Half play Rocket League and half play Smash Bros.,” he said. The car was made out of orange construction paper because that is the school color and also the color of the Rocket League car. The float was to be worn in the parade on a student’s head.
“Someone had to put it on their head, and that is me,” said Nehemiah Lacy.
“We had nobody else,” Cruz said.
Leah Dewberry and JaNiyah Tillotson-Jenkins worked on a float depicting a large box of popcorn while another team drew sprinkles on their strawberry poptart float.
“We were just thinking of ideas,” Dewberry said of how they came up with the popcorn box idea. “We are making it out of paper and a cardboard box.”
Kamrybn McKinney-Grubbs explained why the teams chose two food items.
“Some kids like sugar and some kids like salty stuff. We made something for them to enjoy,” she said. “It wasn’t very hard. It was easy. We had to get ourselves together and not laugh.”
Izzy Flores was part of a team working on a falcon float, explaining that the falcon was chosen because it is Cleveland’s mascot.
“We thought it would be a good choice. We are covering it with orange paper and decorating it with eyes. We are putting feathers on the sides and a tail and a face,” she said.
How was the falcon float going to fly down the hallway in the parade?
“I’m just on the sidelines. I don’t know how it is getting down the hall,” she said.
No Macy’s Thanksgiving parade would be complete without balloons — lots and lots of balloons. While fifth graders were tasked with building floats, third and fourth graders were in charge of decorating balloons. Each student had a choice of an image to color, which was then cut out and taped to a balloon. The balloons were then attached to a stick so students could hold them aloft as they marched down the hall.
Parades also need spectators, so kindergarteners and first graders filled those roles. Students in those grades sat in the hall and cheered and clapped as the balloons and floats paraded by.
And of course there must be a band and cheerleaders. The Lawton High School drumline and Lawton High cheerleaders fulfilled those roles at Cleveland, with cheerleaders leading off the parade while the drumline was stationed in the hall providing music.
Bringing up the rear was a familiar sight — Santa in a Grinch suit — much to the delight of the students.
Across town at Eisenhower Elementary, students participated in Balloons Over Eisenhower where students also had made floats and decorated balloons. The Eisenhower High School drumline provided music as students filed out of the doors and circled around the playground under a brilliant blue Oklahoma sky as they carried their floats and balloons.
After all the students had circled the playground, they turned to see the star of the show coming out the doors. None other than Santa himself strolled onto the playground to shouts and squeals of delight from students.
As the students filed back into the school, Santa greeted each of them with a high-five or a hug and gave teachers a bag of candy to dispense to the students once they returned to their classrooms.