Was the Denver Parade of Lights ever a Christmas parade? Anybody know? >> They get the Parade of Lights dressed to thrill
By Colleen Smith
Special to The Denver Post
Friday, December 03, 2004 -
Most of the 375,000 people expected to line up in downtown Denver for this weekend's Parade of Lights will be in the dark about behind-the- scenes preparation of the 225 character costumes.
Casual observers will watch the march of illuminated Friendly Firs, Christmas candy, gingerbread boys, bow-tied gift boxes, tin soldiers, rag dolls and elves without a thought about the struggle with sizing, the frustrations of tangled lights and failing batteries, the pricks from a zillion straight pins.
But not Marcia Carter and her daughter Linda Walters, who have had a hand in creating the Parade of Lights costumes for the last 20 of the event's 30 years. Together, they are the proprietors of Marcia's Costume Shop in Arvada, a 6,700-square-foot space stuffed with capes and hats, feather boas and masks, swords and scepters, accouterment for every major holiday and then some.
"In here, you're only limited by your imagination," said Carter.
Costumes crafted at Marcia's fill the gaps between the Parade of Lights' featured fanfare: marching bands trumpeting carols, elaborate animated floats, giant balloon characters of the season and cowboys astride horses strewn with sleigh bells that ring true to a nostalgic Colorado Christmas.
Judging from her dangling, glittery gingerbread earrings and her gilded HO HO HO socks, Carter is all about festivity and frivolity and holiday cheer. As a child, though, she never played dress-up. The daughter of a Tennessee coal miner, she never had the opportunity.
For the past 27 years, she's been making up for lost make-believe time. As temperatures dropped, her shop heated up with preparations on famous green ogres and purple dinosaurs, M&Ms and Starlight mints, and, of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus.
"I love the fantasy of it," Carter said. "You put people in a costume and their personality changes. You can be something you never dreamed you could be."
GRAPHIC
Click here for a map of the Parade of Lights.
A light bulb, for example. This year, parade planners requested old-fashioned, screw-in Christmas-tree-light-bulb costumes to acknowledge Xcel Energy, a corporate sponsor.
"The first ones weren't round enough," Carter said. "Then, the foam and fabric would not hold its shape."
Carter's son-in-law Jerry Walters fashioned frames, and now the guises strongly resemble the real thing on steroids - except instead of colored blown glass, they're sewn from sequined fabric.
Sparkle and shine are not the only considerations when designing costumes for the Parade of Lights. The outfits must allow the wearers to see and also to wear winter coats underneath the faux fur or tulle, velvet or lamé.
"The volunteers have to wait in line for almost an hour before the parade, and the route is 2 miles, and we've seen all kinds of weather," Carter said. "They need to be warm and comfortable. And every shoe on the volunteers has to be covered with spats."
Despite the evident merriment and mirth that is the end result, costuming the Parade of Lights characters entails much more than clowning around. Carter and Walters recalled one year when snow fell on Friday night's parade, lending an ever-so-enchanting quality to the wintry event yet leaving costumes dripping wet. Getting the costumes dry again before Saturday's parade took almost as much ingenuity and work as creating them.
"We blew up 12 hair dryers and blew out all the circuits in the place," said Linda Walters. "We're both mothers. We didn't want kids on the streets in wet clothes."
Each costume, in keeping with the parade theme, includes strands of lights.
"Tons and tons of lights," Carter said. "We pin them on. We cannot transport costumes with batteries. Occasionally, just in moving them we have to replace light strands. And then we go back down on Saturday morning to check lights and batteries to make sure the parade looks as good on Saturday night as it did on Friday."
The demands, Carter admitted, are balanced by rewards.
"It's a tough job. We feel very fortunate that we have a lot of comments saying that with the budget we work with we have as good or better costumes as any cold weather parade," Carter said. "But the delight in the people's eyes - especially the kids - means more to me than anything. The gratification is the volunteers and the people on street glowing."
The lights fantastic
Celebrating its 30th year, downtown Denver's Parade of Lights illuminates the dark days before the winter solstice. Here are the details:
The parade kicks off at 8 tonight and runs again at 6 p.m. Saturday.
While you're downtown, don't miss the magnificently lit City and County Building and Union Station.
Don't let transportation and parking worries deter you from attending the parade. Special $5 or less parking rates are in effect - check www.downtowndenver.com - but mass transportation is a better bet. Think RTD, the free 16th Street Mall Shuttle and light rail's D-line, which delivers passengers directly to the parade route but will cease some stops during the parade. For light rail schedules, call 303-299-6000 or visit www.rtd-denver.com (See accompanying map for parade route and street closures.)
Braving the crowds and the cold will warm your heart if you let this parade work its magic and induce its intended effect. But to enjoy it, bundle up and lighten up.
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