WON – The 85 won pet paradeOrganized by the Rotary Club of Torrington Winsted Areas, it will take place on May 20 at 2 pm on Main Street, and is a combination event with the Laurel Festival Parade.
All children from Winsted, Torrington, Norfolk, New Hartford, Barkhamsted and Colebrook are invited to participate in this annual spring tradition organized by the Rotary Club of Torrington – Winsted Areas. This Winsted combo show will feature 28 parade units; floats and floats, mascots, famous people, scouts, youth organizations, dogs, bicycles, small self-propelled vehicles, floats, horses and ponies, six marching bands, including
The Hurricanes and St. Peter’s Drum Corp; floats and wagons decorated with mascot and Laurel Parade themes, as well as Rotary and local dignitaries; the 2022 Laurel Queen Caitlin Tucker and the Laurel King Aiden Bunel; 2023 Mascot Parade Poster Winner Elian Moquete, a fourth grader at Forbes Middle School in Torrington; and Honorary Parade Marshal Candy Perez – Winsted Selectwoman and former Mayor.
For those who want to participate on the day of the pet parade, please make your way to the parade lineup on Meadow Street in Winsted between 1 and 1:30 p.m. All parade division winners announced will receive a medal at East End ceremonies Park at the end. from the parade Other prizes awarded by the judges may include a Kindle or a bicycle.
An activity leading up to the annual parade is the Pet Parade poster contest, which is open to all school-age children. Fourteen schools and 500 children submitted their posters to be judged in April. The posters are currently displayed in store windows in the northwest corner of CT advertising the event.
The 14 winning posters will be displayed on a float in the parade. Winners will be announced at the park where the “Best in School” winner from each of the participating schools will receive a Kindle. Grand Prize Winner Elian Moquete will ride in a convertible with his winning poster and will be the Poster Ambassador for the 86th Annual Mascot Parade in 2024.
Dating back to 1934, the Laurel Festival Parade celebrates the 89th anniversary of the coronation of the first Laurel Queen, 12-year-old Gladys Weaving, when a ceremony was held in the Central School auditorium (Pearson) . For the first few years, the girls at the school were chosen to be the Laurel Queen.
Winsted is recognized as Connecticut’s Laurel City, because Mountain Laurel, Connecticut’s state flower with a pink bloom, grows in great abundance there, blooming in June. During World War II, from 1941 to 1949, the festival did not take place and again from 1968 to 1980 due to a lack of volunteers. In 1981, the Laurel Festival celebration returned, after a long hiatus, when a group of committed volunteers resurrected the event, turning it into a weeklong celebration, and the Laurel City Commission was created, according to a statement.
The Rotary Club encourages everyone who created a banner for the parade; a contest that includes students from Winsted, Colebrook, Norfolk and Barkhamsted schools, to participate in the celebration in the park and look for their banner in the window of a local store or bandstand on Parade Day. They can also march in the Pet Parade.
The crowning of Laurel Queen and King 2023 will take place during the Laurel Ball, at 6 pm on June 2.
To register for the pet parade, go to www.facebook.com/wrpetparade
For more details about the Laurel Festival, visit facebook.com/laurelfestival.
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