Sofia Lindenmeyer

The annual Parade of Lights in Newton always involves students and beautiful lights. Thursday, Dec. 7, the parade took place and some students involved in band, cheer, Azteca and Danza Reyna Del Tepeyac participated.
Band marched through Main Street with lights on their instruments playing Christmas songs. They played Joy to the World, Good King Wenceslas and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Senior drum major Natalie Jones enjoys leading and marching with the band at the parade and seeing her family and friends supporting her while passing.
“I loved seeing my friends and family cheer me on while I was passing by,” Jones said. “We didn’t necessarily need to set up, but we had to make sure we had our uniforms on, instruments in hand and we also could decorate ourselves in holiday lights/costumes.”
It’s a yearly event for band to march through the Parade of Lights but it’s different for them since usually on the football field, they are a little more spread out. Adjusting to the space was a challenge.
“It’s kind of a tradition for us to participate, and we are one of those groups at the high school you see everywhere, so it would be kind of weird to not see us playing in the parade,” Jones said. “We had to take very tiny steps and there weren’t any stops. I know for me personally, I haven’t marched in the form that the rest of the band members are used to doing, so it was an adjustment for me to keep marching in super tiny steps.”
The cheer team also participated in the Parade of Lights. They did not do any cheers or dancing across Main Street, but they did have a decorated trailer. Senior Daytona Helm mentioned that the cheer team decorated the trailer with lights and made a train. The team waved at kids and adults in the community while passing by on their float.
“The cheer team came together at our coach’s house to put lights on the trailer and build the train out of boxes and decorate it,” Helm said. “My favorite part of the parade is coming together and seeing smiles on everyone’s faces. It was a great time and this year, we had Christmas music, which made it so much fun to dance around and sing.”
It is also a yearly tradition for cheer to participate in the parade. The goal for the team is to show their school spirit, stay involved with the community and bond as a team before and after the parade. Senior Brooklynn Black enjoys seeing everyone come together and encouraging the other floats who participated.
“We think it is important to have community involvement with our community especially because they have supported us in many fundraisers and events throughout my four years of being on the cheer team,” Black said. “My favorite part of the parade is seeing all of the kids smiling and waving to the many floats throughout the parade.”