Hillsborough Holiday Parade draws community crowd

For first-time parade-goers Pedro and Marianna Salinas, every aspect of the Hillsborough Holiday Parade was new.

“In my country, it’s a little bit different,” said Pedro Salinas, a native of Venezuela and current Hillsborough resident, noting the parade’s calmer nature and the presence of political candidates.

His 9-year-old daughter Marianna performed as a member of Faulkner’s Dance and Gymnastics in Hillsborough.

“I’ve never really done this,” she said. “My mom took out the clothes and I was ready for it, practicing and getting ready.”

The Salinas family joined hundreds of other families gathered along the sidewalk for Saturday’s Hillsborough Holiday Parade, which took place on Churton Street and was part of the town’s Historic Holiday Weekend.

Other weekend festivities included the Chamber of Commerce gingerbread house competition, the lighting of the town tree and the 23rd annual Historic Hillsborough Candlelight Tour of homes and public buildings.

The parade featured representatives from local groups, including the Orange Rural Fire Department, the Eno River Young Marines and Orange High School Homecoming Queen Brittany Woods.

The parade usually draws several thousand spectators, said Cindy Mihok, assistant to the director of the Hillsborough and Orange County Chamber of Commerce. It featured traditional floats such as a carriage-driven Santa Claus and other, more modern entries.

“One thing that’s new is that we have Miss North Carolina USA in our parade,” Mihok said.

But some residents said they missed former entries that didn’t stand the test of time.

“I miss the hillbilly cars,” said Don O’Leary, a Hillsborough resident who has been attending the event for 13 years. “We don’t see them anymore. They were great, always backfiring, and they had weird horns on them and everything, a couch for a driver’s seat.”

For many first-time parade watchers, both the old and new aspects of the Hillsborough Holiday Parade will become a tradition.

“Our children and grandchildren are from Hillsborough, so we came to watch the parade with the family,” said Durham resident Linda Kruse. “We’ll probably make this an annual event.”



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