Santa Claus visits Bucyrus for Christmas parade

BUCYRUS - After waving to thousands of people who gathered to watch the Christmas Parade, Santa Claus hopped off the fire truck and walked toward a group of excited children.

"Merry Christmas!" he shouted as he approached the kids.

At the front of the line stood Bentley Benedict — he must be a good boy, because Santa has brought him everything he's asked for the past several years.

"I want a computer this year," Bentley said. "I like LEGOs and I would also like a Santa globe."

Bentley visited St. Nick with his aunt, Penny Nelson, of Bucyrus, and her two grandchildren: Aryah Case, 2, and Leo Reindl, 3 months.

They stood in line for more than an hour, waiting for Santa to make his way through the parade.

"If you don't come early, you're here forever," Nelson said. "It's cold out here for the kids — they enjoy it, though, and they get free popcorn and now we get to watch movies."

It was the first year that Santa and Mrs. Claus sat in the Bucyrus Art Park after the parade. City officials played Christmas movies while children stood in line and drank hot chocolate.

But not all of the kids waited for Santa in the park — Lauren Heil, 8, and her sister, Anna, 5, stood with their parents, Peter and Beth, along the parade route.

"We have come every year since Lauren was 2," Peter said.

They picked out what they suspected would be a good place to catch candy and other treats tossed from the floats.

"They remembered to bring their bags this year," Peter said. "They're normally stuffing their pockets and hats full of candy."

Lauren was glad to be there, but she wasn't that concerned about candy.

"I don't really have a sweet tooth," she explained.

She was a little more interested in looking to see if any of her friends from school were at the parade.

Beth was watching the children, and sipping a warm cup of hot chocolate. She and Peter were glad it wasn't any colder.

"It's a pretty nice night, actually," Beth said. "I'm comfortable."

It was the first time the Christmas Parade started on the north end of town and worked its way south along Sandusky Avenue. Doug Foght, who helped organize the parade, said the new system worked well.

The parade was filled with fire trucks, marching bands and cartoon characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse. There were floats made by several businesses and civic organizations.

At the helm of the Rotary float was John Kime, who grew up in Bucyrus and returned after college. He had never driven the Rotary float through the Christmas parade.

"I am usually behind, tossing out candy," Kime said. "I was tired of getting cold."

Melissa Guercio and Becky Griffin were used to sitting in the cab of their warm dump truck during the parade. They drive for ODOT.

"We usually each have our own truck, but this year we just brought one," Griffin explained.

It's the fifth year they've been in the parade.

"We really like the decorations," Guercio said. "We're happy that we get to do this."

Adrienne Cardoza sat bundled on the back of the Bucyrus Precision Tech float. She said the company used to always take part in the parade, but hadn't for the past couple years. She had 13 people help her with this year's float.

"We've got some friends and family and just about everybody," Cardoza said.

They were handing out treats for the kids, and something a little more important for some of the parents: cards containing the company's contact information.

"We're hiring right now, and we want everybody to know that," Cardoza said. "You can apply online or come in directly — we have all of that information on the cards."

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