By Grace Apostol
News Co-Editor
On Saturday, Oct. 29, from 1 to 2 p.m., the town of Chestertown, through the Lions Club, held its 315th annual Halloween parade for the community.
Dwight Wilmot was this year’s the co-chair for the parade with Larry Lions, with Bill Blake as the emcee.
“We took it over after Bobby Knapp, who had run it for 15 years,” Wilmot, a member of the Lions Club for almost two years now, said.
The Chestertown Lions Club holds twice monthly meetings and worked for several months to curate the parade.
“We have been working on it as far as contacting prospective paraders and all that sort of thing for about three or four months in the working,” Wilmo said.
Involved in the parade were Chestertown’s fire department, emergency services, police department, and school systems, as well as several school marching bands, candidates for this November’s election, and Chestertown organizations.
Also incorporated were Halloween costume contests for ages ranging from preschool to adult with judges for said contests that were set on a stage in the middle of town.
Other categories included best parade floats. The prizes, awarded at the end of the parade, totaled $355.
The Service Committee of Washington College’s Student Government Association also helped in the parade, with Gus the Goose himself walking in the procession.
“I worked closely with the parade organizers to get some student volunteers and students to judge the parade as well,” Secretary of Community and Service Relations sophomore Stephen Hook said.
Wilmot was pleased with the outcome of the parade.
“Since I haven’t run one of these before, I was happy we went through it with no collisions,” Wilmot said.
Mayor of Chestertown and Grand Marshall David Foster judged the parade and enjoyed the holiday festivities.
“I’m thrilled to be here,” he said “It’s a wonderful parade and wonderful judges. This is small town America at its best.”
Photo courtesy of Grace Apostol.
Photo Caption: The Chester town parade begins with the Chestertown fire department.