Barracks Road parade kicks off shopping season

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: November 29, 2008

They marched to music, danced to song and rode buoyed on the wheels of Mustangs, Thunderbirds and Barracudas in the mosaic of life that is the annual Barracks Road Shopping Center Holiday Parade.

The official kickoff to the area’s holiday shopping season came hours after shoppers hit the aisles Friday morning, offering a mid-morning break in a ritual that’s been around for more than 35 years.

Led by Charlottesville Police Sgt. Tito Durrette’s new black-and-white Harley-Davidson police bike — followed closely by the Monticello High School Marching Band — the parade featured a lineup of ballerinas and local celebrities. Albemarle and Fluvanna County beauty queens from Tiny Miss, Little Miss and Petite Miss right through Pre-teen Miss, Junior Miss and just Miss, rode past, perched on convertibles and antique automobiles.

In what has become a custom within the tradition, members of the Piedmont Antique Auto Club brought out their rides.

“I look forward to it every year,” said Jim Vargo, who brought his black Mercedes-Benz coupe. “It’s a lot of fun.”

“I don’t take it out very often,” Ken Elzinga said of his chopped-top, custom 1949 Mercury Coupe. “The club does this every year and it’s a chance to get out, show it off and be with people who like cars.”

In past years, the parade has rung in the shopping season. This year, many stores opened doors on Thanksgiving to get a jump on the traditional after-holiday shopping sprees. Other stores opened doors at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Friday morning, attracting customers with deep discounts on goods.

The parade, however, has less to do with pulling customers into the stores than in promoting the community.

“It’s a huge crowd pleaser,” said Sarah North, spokeswoman for Barracks Road. “We start planning it in August but we get phone calls from people in April and May who want to be involved. We have a lot of community organizations that get together every year and they love to be in it. It’s a great way to start the holiday season.”

For Juelz Miller, who proclaimed himself to be two-and-a-half fingers old, Friday morning was the first of many parades likely to come. The Ruckersville resident brought his grandfather, Steven Miller, to the event.

As floats and folks rolled by, Juelz Miller pointed out everything he liked, including the cars, horses, dogs and especially the beauty queens, waving enthusiastically to each. He provided a double thumbs-up for those who passed out candy, leaving in question which celebrity in the parade was his favorite.

“Santa!” he answered.

His grandfather confirmed it: “He loves Santa. We saw Santa downtown yesterday. I knew we’d be running errands near here so we thought we’d stop and see him,” Steven Miller said. “He sees everything and he’s really enjoying all of this. I’m sure he’ll want to come next year.”