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© St. Petersburg Times, published December 2, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Saturday morning's Santa Parade felt more like Christmas in July.
Many parade participants -- Brownie troops, baton twirlers and local businesses -- paired Santa hats with American flags. Christmas tunes blared from parade floats decked out with the red, white and blue decorations usually reserved for Independence Day.
"Every year you stand here and watch it go by and you take it for granted," said Peggy Cole Hansford, 55, who has lived in St. Petersburg all her life and usually attends the Santa Parade. "This year it gives me chills."
This year's parade was different, with its distinctively patriotic flair. The crowd of at least 10,000 -- compared with 6,000 or 7,000 last year -- reacted with hearty applause to parade entries from St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue and the U.S. Postal Service.
Said Tom Taylor of St. Petersburg: "I think we've learned that the people who do their jobs are the heroes."
The parade almost didn't happen at all. A month ago city officials announced that the parade had no sponsor and would not take place this year.
"I read the newspaper that morning, and I figured we can't let this go like that," said Daniel Beauchesne, youth activities director for the St. Petersburg Lions Club.
With a flurry of phone calls to members of the Lions Club board of directors, Beauchesne and the club ensured that the parade would go on. Although corporate sponsors usually take up to six months to organize the parade, Beauchesne and his girlfriend, Michelle Simoneau, and other volunteers pulled it off with one month of intense work.
It helped that Simoneau is a professional promoter.
Partnering the Lions Club with the Santa Parade made sense, Beauchesne said, considering the parade is believed to be 74 years old and the club is only slightly older than that. The club has also participated in the parade since at least 1939.
"Look at all the people who came," Beauchesne said. "I just could not imagine not doing this."