FARMINGTON — Kirk Doyle, Ashley Holmes, Mikaeel Malik and two Siberian huskies turned fantasy into reality on Saturday morning during the spirited 33rd annual Chester Greenwood Day parade.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Siberian huskies Flare, left, and Hylo of Phillips wait for the 33rd annual Chester Greenwood Day Parade to begin in Farmington on Saturday. The dogs wait atop the Barclaycard float with Ashley Holmes, 10, of Vienna and dog-sled musher Mikaeel Malik, 9, of Wilton. The float, which also featured Kirk Doyle of Farmington as imaginary snowman Parson Brown to fit the "Winter Wonderland" parade theme, won the Most Original award.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Barclaycard float participants Kirk Doyle, left, Mikaeel Malik, 9, of Wilton and Ashley Holmes, 10, of Vienna wait in the Mallett School parking lot Saturday for the Chester Greenwood Day Parade to begin.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Dressed in earmuffs to participate in the Chester Greenwood Day Parade in Farmington on Saturday, Ashley Holmes, 10, of Vienna, and Mikaeel Malik, 9, of Wilton, ham it up atop their Barclaycard float while waiting for the parade to begin.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Dressed as imaginary snowman Parson Brown from a verse in the lyrics of a famous 1934 Christmas song "Winter Wonderland," Kirk Doyle of Farmington strikes a stoic pose atop the Barclaycard float while the crowd lining Main Street reacts during the Chester Greenwood Day Parade in Farmington on Saturday. Behind Doyle on a dog sled pulled by real Siberian huskies are 9-year-old musher Mikaeel Malik of Wilton and Ashley Holmes, 10, of Vienna. The float was awarded the Most Original ribbon, which is attached at right to the dog sled.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Mallett School students march up Main Street in Farmington on Saturday in the 33rd annual Chester Greenwood Day Parade.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Several people watching Saturday morning's Chester Greenwood Day Parade cover their ears in anticipation of a blasting volley of musket fire from Civil War reenactors on Main Street in Farmington.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Two-year-old Bryan Mastine, left, and 6-year-old Kaden Allen, react while atop the respective shoulders of Dara Tracy and Dave Holt, all of Farmington, after hearing Civil War reenactors fire their muskets during Saturday morning's Chester Greenwood Day Parade on Main Street in Farmington. It was their first time at the parade, Tracy said.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
This gingerbread house and confectionary yard was one of two entries that both won first place ribbons in Saturday's third annual Gingerbread House Contest at Farmington's Chester Greenwood Day festivities. Four gingerbread houses and a gingerbread Christmas tree entered in the contest were displayed inside the Bangor Savings Bank lobby where six entries in the annual Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Chili Contest were also judged.
Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
This gingerbread house and yard setting was one of two that won first place ribbons in the third annual Gingerbread House Contest during Saturday's Chester Greenwood Day festivities in Farmington.
The trio took a verse from the lyrics of the famous 1934 Christmas song "Winter Wonderland," the title of which was the parade theme, and created their ensemble that morning in the Mallett School parking lot.
"We are, 'In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend that he is Parson Brown,'" Doyle sang, swaying to and fro in his Parson Brown snowman costume.
"'He'll say: Are you married? We'll say: No man, but you can do the job when you're in town,'" Doyle sang.
Dozens of volunteers from the Wilton call center business decorated the float with evergreen boughs topped with wisps of cotton and added a few "snow"-covered Christmas trees.
Doyle, of Farmington, with a long carrot nose, was dressed in a hat and scarf and wore two tree branches as arms. Holmes, 10, of Vienna, wore an off-white bridal gown and reclined in a dog sled that was steered by black tuxedo-clad Malik, 9, of Wilton.
All wore required earmuffs to mark Greenwood's famous invention around which the parade and the day's festivities were centered.
Although the float was set up on Saturday morning, Doyle said it took two weeks to design the ensemble and to figure out how best to incorporate the theme.
Hitched to the dog sled and tethered to a mesh fence on the flatbed trailer were Siberian huskies Flare, 3, and Hylo, 2. The dogs belong to Maggie Wey of Phillips and her Bray Hill Siberians kennel.
"Flare and Hylo have never been in a parade before, but they certainly know what it means to be hooked up to a sled," Wey said, hence the many tethers from their collars to the fence to keep them from bolting.
"They're actually being pretty good," she said as the dogs got interested in Santa Claus sitting high in the saddle atop a nearby pinto horse.
Judges pronounced the float "Most Original" and affixed a long multi-layered red, white and blue ribbon to the sled.
Minutes later, off they went, accompanied by several other floats, marching schoolchildren, Civil War re-enactors, area emergency responders, Mt. Blue's Nordic ski team on roller skis, long-time Chester Greenwood portrayer Clyde Ross, and many more.
A few blocks away, sidewalks along Broadway and Main Street were packed with people of all ages, waiting expectantly for the nearly 40-minute parade to arrive.
A muted volley of musket fire, followed by a large cloud of blue-gray smoke in the distance beyond Academy Street, heralded the oncoming parade. People quickly moved off the sidewalks and into Main Street for better views.
At 11:30 a.m., the float carrying Doyle, Holmes, Malik and the dogs glided through the intersection, attracting plenty of attention.
"What was fun about it," Doyle said afterward, "was that every float I've ever been on always gets a reaction, but not like the one this received. There were lots of laughs, screams and waves. People seemed to really enjoy it."
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