Junior Orange Bowl Parade delights residents as holiday season ends

Equestrians upon handsome horses, firefighters and children on antique trucks, cowboys on a rodeo float and others from over 60 South Florida groups promenaded down Miracle Mile to get the New Year under way at the 63rd annual Junior Orange Bowl Parade.

The Coral Gables holiday tradition, organized by the Junior Orange Bowl Committee, was held on Monday, Jan. 2, as the hallmark event of the Junior Orange Bowl Youth Festival, which includes competitions in tennis, golf, creative writing and many other areas.

Among school groups en route, the Miami Central High School Marching Rockets strutted and twirled batons in their sparkly silver boots and hunter green costumes, heralding the arrival of the Marching Rockets band in green and white stripes.

Pinecrest Farmers? Market ambassadors welcomed a healthy New Year atop a green garden float; flight attendants in blue dress suits and hats waved from aboard the World Wings International Pan Am Float; and traditional dancers in black and white costumes performed from the Fraternidad Boliviana Caporales de la Florida. And the 240-member Clemson University Tiger Band ? in town for the Orange Bowl football game -- pleased many a spectator.

Concluding the parade, Junior Orange Bowl teen queen Mikayla Panariollo greeted the crowds as she floated by donning a white ruffled gown.

While gray clouds amassed throughout the event, rain only sprinkled and the cold front arrived as the family-oriented crowd began to dissipate.

Culminating their holiday festivities, sixth graders Emily Victoria Pasteris and Julianna Delgado, who also participate in the drama magnet program at South Miami Middle Community School, joyfully sang and danced to musicals along with some 40 other youth from Miami Musical Theater to open the event?s festivities.

They indeed embraced the festival theme, ?Soaring to New Heights,? as they performed songs like A Whole New World, You Can Fly!... and Let?s Go Fly a Kite.

?It? was awesome, really cool just being in the parade and having fun and the theme soaring to new heights,? said Emily, beaming following the performance.

Julianna said her jitters quickly fell away as she played Michael from Peter Pan and rode a scooter as if to fly. ?I liked the fact that I was on TV,? she said. ?All the rehearsals and practices paid off.?

Emily?s mother Irene Pasteris delighted in their performance. ?It was fantastic. It was a great experience watching them,? she said. ?It was a nice event for the community to come out to showcase a little bit of everything we?ve got. It was nice to see a lot of youth involved.?

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Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/08/2579772/junior-orange-bowl-parade-delights.html

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