Fun in downtown Minneapolis
A testament to the hardiness of Minnesotans, during the month of December, there is a parade Wednesday-Sunday evenings down Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. It does occasionally get cancelled due to snowy, icy, or cold conditions, but that’s unusual. The Holidazzle Parade is marked by brightly lit floats and characters. Most of the floats are of storybook characters and settings. The princess and the pea (sponsored, this year at least, by a mattress company 🙂 is one of my favorites.
This year, Andrew and I were joined by Dave, Jen and Kira, Kevin and my parents. It wasn’t too cold out, though Andrew pointed out that earlier this month we got sick after a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Perhaps this would be reason to get sick on this trip. I took a few pictures, but they didn’t really turn out.
Afterwards we rushed up to the Marshall Field’s 8th floor auditorium. The display this year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — each year they put up a display, usually based on a children’s book. The display was quite fun, though crowded as always (though in the past, it wasn’t nearly as busy after Christmas, so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too bad).
Though, more fun that the display itself, was watching Kira. She was on Dad’s shoulders, and started to imitate some of the characters. One of the displays showed the winner of a golden ticket raising her hands above her head, so Kira raised her hands, too.