On December 14, 2019, the Rappahannock River Valley Wildlife Refuge made its first-ever appearance in the Warsaw holiday parade. The Refuge float, decorated by the staff and RWR Friends, won the judges’ choice award for first place. The staff embraced the idea of taking part in the parade not only to get the message out to the Warsaw community about the Refuge but also to make the holiday season more fun.
Once the decision was made to participate in the parade, planning went into high gear. At a meeting on November 13 staff and volunteers made plans to decorate a Refuge boat with mounted animals, tinsel ringed signs highlighting recreational activities permitted on the Refuge, wrapped Christmas presents, glittered pinecones, forest greenery and Puddles, the blue goose mascot.
Lauren Cruz hosted a decorating party on December 7th to wrap boxes with seasonal paper, paint glitter on pinecones and create tinsel decorated signs. On December 13th after sharing a holiday pot-luck lunch, volunteers and staff used Christmas ribbon to attach cards announcing the date for Go Wild 2020 to 500 candy canes and decorated the float with mounted animals, lights, evergreen boughs, Christmas packages, tinsel-ringed signs, and… more tinsel.
It rained the morning of the parade, but the organizers delayed the start time to give the skies time to clear. The rain did not dampen the festive spirit. By 3:00 p.m. parade participants gathered in the Northern Neck Electric parking lot in Warsaw to put the final touches on parade entries. The high school band played. RWR volunteers and staff positioned the red-nosed deer with antlers in the front of the boat accompanied by several of the Refuge’s stuffed birds and animals. Charlie Lex donned the blue goose costume. Elena, Kendra Pednault’s daughter, and a friend dressed as elves and volunteers wearing Santa hats and dressed as hikers, birders, fisherman or hunters walked alongside the boat handing out candy canes. John Jennings, a Santa Claus look-alike, drove the Refuge Suburban to pull the boat accompanied by helpful elf, Mollie Danforth. A group of birders, who planned to attend the Audubon Christmas Bird Count on the refuge the next day, carried the Refuge sign.
The next week Lauren Cruz was thrilled to accept a huge trophy signifying First Place in the parade. Not bad for first time participants.
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