SAN ANTONIO – The Battle of Flowers Parade returned to San Antonio on Friday to full effect and adoring fans.
The highly anticipated event began at 9 a.m. and featured beauty queens, marching bands and of course, floats. Those in attendance were thankful this year’s parade wasn’t canceled.
“We just love it, it’s a big family event for us,” said one attendee. “It’s awesome, and even better after COVID,” said another.
The parade took on a new route, however, the celebratory spirit remained.
“It’s the same feeling I had when I was 5 years old when I would come with my mom and with my family,” another attendee said.
And as much fun as everyone was having organizing and putting the parade together, it took a lot of behind-the-scenes work and an early morning start.
“I’ve been here since yesterday since 8 o’clock,” a vendor said. “We woke up around 4, but got here at 5 o’clock,” said another.
Many people even stayed overnight, making sure they claimed the best seats along the parade route. The work was certainly cut out for volunteers, who worked to set thousands of chairs to meet the crowds.
“We started pretty early. Just like everybody else who’s out here and we have our crews broken down into two different teams,” Virginia Locoy, committee chair of Troop 248, said.
But setting up for the parade is just half the job. Volunteers said the real hustle is in the clean-up.
“More pressure is on the breakdown because if you’ve been down here for one of these, as soon as the parade is over the city wants us to clean this place up and get the streets open again, so we’ve got to move very quickly,” Dave Splitek, of the San Antonio Founder Lions Club, said.
Those in the crowd who experienced the parade however are extremely appreciative.
“Thank God, we needed to celebrate,” an attendee said.