With the holiday season among us many different traditions are happening, like Newton’s downtown Parade of Lights. On Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. main street is filled with different businesses, churchs, clubs, nonprofits and schools participating in floats, vehicles and walking groups. The band performs every year with their instruments decorated with lots of christmas lights.

“[We performed] The Christmas parade sequence, it’s like a medley of all the songs, like Joy to the World and Jolly old King Wenceslas.” senior Seth Bontrager said.

The band has many other performances in December, and with a certain set for the parade they practice for a certain amount of time.

“Wind ensemble has been practicing for the last week, the concert band has been practicing for the last 2 weeks.” junior John Jantzen said.

This year is the 20th annual parade of lights, the Newton Lions Club hosting it since 2009, Newton Area Chamber of Commerce before them. This year they have 34 different float entries for the parade. Even though the temperature is always low many people come out and watch the parade.

“The performance was good, it was very cold, but it was good. Luckily the parade is short enough where we don’t have to be out there for hours.” Bontrager said.