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Vol. 27, No. 32 | Richmond Surburban Newspapers | December 8, 2010
A brrrreautiful sight
Parade founder is still Santa at heart John Clodfelter: After 20+ years, still ho-ho-hoing By Forrest Gladstone For The Mechanicsville Local
Photo courtesy of Patrick Dobbs
Children wave as their float goes by at the 2010 Mechanicsville Christmas Parade.
Chill in the air can’t stop parade’s warm feeling By Forrest Gladstone For The Mechanicsville Local Retailers would have us believe that the Christmas season should start as early as Halloween, but for many Mechanicsville locals, Christmas hasn’t fully arrived until
it’s time for the annual Christmas parade. Begun by John Clodfelter in 1985, the parade has since been taken over by the Rotary and Ruritan clubs and has become a Mechanicsville tradition. Beginning at 3 p.m. last Sunday, this year’s parade had an
impressive turnout, both in units participating in the parade and in spectators, with people coming out as early as 1:30 to stake claim to their spots along the parade route. Despite the chill, there was an air of cheerful preparation in the hour leading up to the event,
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snippets of carols floating through the air as high school marching bands ran through last-minute rehearsals and the occasional elf zoomed past on roller blades. One little girl, bundled tight against the cold, shot out of her seat when the see PARADE, pg. 4 `
In December 1985, John Clodfelter and his wife, Gloria, organized a Christmas celebration at the windmill bank. They enlisted local scout troops and students from Lee Davis High School to help with preparations and music and decorated with old-fashioned crafts like seed-dipped pinecones. And at the center of the festivities, John Clodfelter sat as Santa Claus, inviting children up onto his knee and encouraging them to tell him their Christmas wishes. “We just felt that there should be a time of year, at least one, when we could do something good,” Clodfelter said. “It had a great turnout, and pretty soon people began asking if we were going to do it again the next year.” By the time Christmas rolled around again, interest in the event had grown to such an extent that Clodfelter restructured it into a community parade. The Mechanicsville Christmas Parade had 32 units its first year and has grown
steadily since. Clodfelter organized it for nearly 20 years and served as Santa Claus until 2009. It is for him, and always has been, a labor of love. “It’s for the kids, really. That’s why I tell people, when I’m being Santa, I need as much time with the children as they need to give me. Because you never know what they are bringing with them.” John and Gloria’s son, Kenneth Clodfelter, was one of the U.S. sailors killed in the 2000 terrorist bombing of the USS Cole, and Clodfelter commented that after his son’s death many people wondered if he would stop his work as parade organizer and Santa Claus. Clodfelter shook his head at the thought. “I couldn’t think of a better reason to continue. Kenneth helped me make the first parade a success. I couldn’t stop doing it.” Though the parade finally got too big for Clodfelter to organize on his own, he continues to serve as Santa for the Mechanicsville community, this year playing the role for Cracker Barrel and a local Cub Scout troop as well as for the children of soldiers stationed aboard the USS Cole. He noted that though anyone see CLODFELTER, pg. 4 `