Characters dressed like Frozen’s Elsa, Anna, and Olaf brought tons of cheer to little ones as they posed for pictures under glowing holiday decorations. Photo by Chris Pedigo

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The first Wednesday of December, the Gridley community welcomed the holiday season with its annual tree lighting ceremony and Winter Wonderland Festival (WWF) and Parade of Lights (PL).

As the rain clouds cleared and night fell, townsfolk gathered at the Orchard Hospital campus for music, hot cocoa and cookies provided by the Gridley Lions Club, and of course, the flick of the switch that would light the town’s giant Christmas Tree.

Meanwhile, the streets of downtown began to fill to the brim with revelers enjoying a variety of tasty street food and treats, shopping the many vendor booths, or snapping pictures with Mickey and Mini Mouse, Olaf from Frozen, or the beautiful princesses Elsa and Anna.  And don’t forget Santa!

Gridley Area Chamber of Commerce (GACC) and volunteers spent hours adorning the heart of downtown with lights and decorations to create a festive holiday atmosphere. Snowflakes fell from the second story of the Gridley Museum onto the crowd and a new, towering tree made of Christmas lights was installed in Daddow Park.

At 6:30 pm two Gridley PD Motorcycle officers drove circles down the parade route, heralding the arrival of the parade. Children crowded towards the street to get a glimpse of the long line-up of floats that would follow.

The Chamber reports that they had a total of 29 entries, with many comprised of multiple units, making for an hour-long parade.

This year the Navy Sea Cadets provided the color guard and Miss Lauren Kelly lent her beautiful voice, singing the national anthem for the crowd.

A steady stream of brilliantly lit and creatively designed floats would follow, featuring community groups, service organizations, sports teams, businesses, and more, but it would be the Joseph Waterbury Electrics float that would clench first place. Second place would go to Anthony’s Balloons, and third place to Orchard Hospital.

The GACC would like to extend a special “thank you” to Brian Bassett for providing the sound equipment for both announcer’s booths as well as announcing for the parade, and to Jeff Unck for announcing as well.  The GACC is grateful for the generosity of the WWL sponsors, Gridley Quota Club, Kid’s Castle, Nacho’s Electric, Caldwell Enterprises, Gridley Moose Lodge, Orchard Hospital, Railhouse Pub & Grill, Gridley Rotary, Maria Topete State Farm Insurance, Joseph Waterbury Electric, Gridley Safeway, and Enhance Bodies of Oroville.

In addition to the sponsors, GACC would also like to thank Orchard Hospital for hosting the tree lighting and CALFIRE/Gridley Fire Department, The Gridley Herald, Legend Sound Works, Ben Toilet Rentals, Wheeler Ranch Realty Group, and the City of Gridley, for their support. GACC extends a heartfelt thank you to the Gridley Electric Department, Gridley Public Works and Gridley Police Department for the hours of work that they dedicated to the success of this event.