UTICA — Though temperatures were a touch cool, plenty of sunshine graced the Ice Cream Festival parade in Utica on Saturday morning, showing off all the participants in the hour-long procession. The crowd of hundreds of people lined both sides of Central Avenue, eagerly receiving ice cream treats given out at the head of the parade by ice cream trucks from Velvet Ice Cream. The festivities marked the 34th year for the parade, which opened the 2008 Ice Cream Festival, which is to run through today.
Highlights included the beautiful 2007 Ice Cream Festival Queen Paige Vest, who preceded a float holding almost a dozen past queens of the festival. Licking County Commissioner Doug Smith sponsored an elaborately decorated float saluting the Licking County bicentennial, which is in 2008, while the Rocky Fork Junior Livestock 4-H Club traveled country-style, sitting on bales of hay on a tractor-drawn float. Licking County 4-H Canine Queen Brittany Whisner and Puppy Princess Sienna Castillo appeared as did several livestock promotional royals, including Knox County Pork Industry Queen Kelli Myers and Princess Chelsea Carpenter.
Representatives of fairs and festivals from all over the state were there in number, waving at the crowd, including 2007 Coshocton Canal Festival Queen Lindsey Good, who traveled in a small, horse-drawn wagon. Many floats, particularly those of candidates running for election, handed out candy or promotional items. Members of the American Legion Post 804 rode in comfort on a haywagon drawn by a nicely restored red McCormick Farmall tractor, while the Ohio Horseman’s Council paraded several handsome steeds. A smaller number of Shriners appeared this year than in last year’s parade, featuring a few men on scooters, one in a miniature airplane, and the ever-popular motorized donkey, with an attached Kermit the Frog.
