Queens ride on Spring Festival Float. These are few of the Festival queens who rode Saturday on a special float filled with those who won pageants over the past week. More photos of the parade Saturday are available for viewing and for sale by going to www.cu.lehighacrescitizen.com. If you were at the parade, you may find yourself pictured in the gallery of photos. Photo by Mel Toadvine

This year’s annual Lehigh Spring Festival gala parade drew thousands of people to the center of town Saturday for a two-hour parade that included everything from floats, two high school bands and their JROTC units to horses and one float even with a cow and a pig riding aboard.

Several photos of the parade can be viewed or purchased by going to cu.lehighacrescitizen.com.

The parade started of at 11 a.m. without a hitch and Andy Reisinger, chairman of the parade, said things went well. Parade entries this year paid a fee of $35 to help fund the festival which began March 19 and concluded Saturday night.

Thousands of people turned out to Veterans Park for the last night of fun and activities. Many rode on the rides and ate the popcorn and burgers from vendors in the Midway.

During the nine days of activities, several pageants were held, crafts and other competitions were held and each night one of the main attractions, the Spring Festival Idol Contest was held with both a junior and adult winner announced Friday night.

TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM SATURDAY'S LEHIGH SPRING FESTIVAL PARADE ON SATURDAY, GO TO: cu.lehighacrescitizen.com. A helicopter flew over Homestead Rd. Saturday in honor of the Lehigh Spring Festival Parade. The county helicopter made several fly-overs as parade attendees looked skyward. Photo by Mel Toadvine

This year the parade moved faster than in previous years without little lag, according to those who monitored the parade on golf carts.

The judges’ stand was set up along Homestead Rd., in front of a bank.

Vicki Culver, the vice president of the Spring Festival Committee emceed the parade in front of the judges’ stand with help from Danny Stephenson, a long-time emcee on the large outside stage at the Festival.

A big surprise came at the end of the Festival Parade when Andy Reisinger’s wife, DiAnna, was asked to get out of a car in the parade while she listed to people sing Happy Birthday to her at the judges stand and from the crowds in that area.

She had worked closely with her husband in putting together the parade.

Streets were closed in most areas along Homestead Rd. by 10:30 in anticipation of the startup of the parade at 11.

It caused some problems at Victory Christian Center where people came to pick up food they had ordered through Angel Food Ministries. After 10:30 a.m. routes up to Taylor Rd. Extended were closed and people parked several blocks away from the Homestead Rd. route, despite empty parking spaces at the former movie theater building.

The parade was led by Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott followed by the parade marshal, Jose Morillo, CEO of Lehigh Regional Medical Center, which helped to support many of the activities at the Festival.

Jim Phebus who represented a member of a “pioneer family” rode in a car driven by Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce President Joe Whalen. Each year the Chamber selects someone in Lehigh to represent a pioneer family. The selection is made by choosing those who have lived in Lehigh for three or four decades.

Around 80 to 90 units participated in the parade which ended exactly two hours from when it started.

Ernie Hartman said he was resigning from the Spring Festival following the end of this year’s Festival. The board will meet to choose a new chairman. Many believe it will be Vicki Culver, who has been one of the more active people on the committee, along with people like William Hoppe and others.

The Lehigh Spring Festival years ago marked the occasion when most snowbirds left Lehigh afterwards for their trips back to their homes up north. The Festival was began as a way to wish them well on their trip home. This year’s parade winners were as follows:

Most Unique & Creative, Cross Roads Caf; Most Original Dcor & Design, Seniors of Moore Haven; Most Outstanding, Bayshore Elementary Cloggers; Best implementation of Theme, Lehigh Regional Medical Center; Best Costumes, East Lee County Drama Club; and Best Crowd Pleaser, East Lee County High School Marching Band.