Downtown Christmas parade aims to renew popular tradiiton

YOUNGSTOWN

A crowd of 100 or more, many of them children, lined East Federal Street Saturday afternoon, listening to the lyrics of “Here Comes Santa Claus” as the Downtown Youngstown Holiday Parade began.

“Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane,” came the words from speakers placed in Central Square.

Christmas Day is still three weeks away, but for a half-hour Saturday, it felt a little like Christmas Day. Temperatures were Christmas-like — in the 20s and windy.

Organizers of First Night Youngstown decided to bring back the parade starting last year in hopes of rekindling a tradition that attracted 50,000 to 60,000 people downtown in the 1950s, according to Vindicator files.

For the comlete story, read Sunday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.