Kathy Wright 2007 Parade Grand Marshal Our Grand Marshal for the 2007 Southern Maine Christmas Parade is Kathy Wright.  Kathy had organized the Christmas Parade for 20 years, up to the 2004 parade.  Now, we have the opportunity to say "Thank you, Kathy, a job well done!" by selecting her as our Grand Marshal. We had a chance to interview Kathy about her years as organizer of the parade.  She tells us of the parade beginnings up until her decision to retire as the parade organizer.  The interview is below:

Interviewer:  Kathy, how many years had you worked on the organization of the parade, and how did you come about to become organizer?

Kathy:  I believe it was 20 years, and what happened was Gary Leech and Ken Creed had been doing the parade for a couple of years and at the time I was Chamber Secretary.  Gary came to me one day and ask me if I would chair the Christmas parade and I said yes.  I remember that day and it was right in my driveway when he asked me.  I believe he was surprised that I immediately agreed to do it.  I had helped with the parade while I was Chamber Secretary/Office Manager so it was a help to have assisted on it before I did it myself.  As I chaired the parade year after year, I could almost wait until November to put it all together.  I had it all in my head after a while and I knew what had to be done and when it had to be done.

Interviewer:  What did you consider was your greatest challenge each year when you organized the parade?

Kathy:  I guess the biggest thing was just making sure that the town was ready for Prelude week. You would try to get everything ready before Prelude as to whether people were coming up from Oqunquit or down Route 1 to the town of Wells to make sure that the parade was ready.  Another item was criticism of the small wreaths that were up since they were about the size of a donut, and now we have the larger wreaths available that more people seemed to enjoy.  It was also a challenge getting the money for the ribbon that was placed on the wreaths, and making sure that was done.  The next item was trying to figure out whom you would pick for a Grand Marshal.  Some people didn't seem to want to do it initially, but Gary Leech did it, Ken Creed did it, Brent Marriner, Diana Abbott, and others.  I think they were all glad they did it.

Interviewer:  Do you have any special memories of people who helped with the parade?

Kathy: I was looking at some pictures recently and remember and I was kind of "choked up" because they were of the barn where we used to store our Christmas things at the large barn at Seagull Inn.  Former owner, David Moulton, allowed us to store these items.  We used to call it the "Christmas Fairy Barn," and I had a set of keys, and still have them, with a tag on them saying the "Christmas Fairy Barn."

Interviewer: We were wondering if there any general "rules of thumb" you used to place different groups in the parade.

Kathy:  You don't want to have the bands near any horses.  You don't want the horses near any sireens, and there is a certain protocol for the placement of state, federal and local groups, which I found out from doing the 350th Wells Anniversary parade.  There are always unexpected things that occur and you always needed to be on your toes to make sure that things went smoothly.

Interviewer:  You did the parade for 20 years, and anyone that does something like this for 20 years has to have a passion to do it.  Can you explain your passion for the parade?  And when did you decide to stop doing the parade?

Kathy:  I guess I enjoy doing things in the community, and like volunteering, though I have cut back quite a bit.  And it was hard for me to make the decision to stop doing the parade, and I can't really explain what it was that made me decide to stop doing the parade.  What happened was that I was working the polls one day in November, and it just came to me while I was sitting at the table checking off names that this was going to be the last year that I was going to do the parade.  I don't really know what possessed me to decide that way, but that's how it happened.  I had thought about it from time to time in the past but I never made a decision to stop doing it until that moment.

Interviewer:  Next year, we are thinking about doing something very special for the 25th anniversary of the parade.  Would you like to be involved in the plans for out 25th anniversary parade?

Kathy:  I hadn't realized that it is going to be the 25th year, but yes, I can try to think of some things that might be good for the parade. You might also want to ask Gary Leech and Ken Creed if they would also like to be part of it because they were a big part of the parade from the beginning.

Interviewer:  Thank you, Kathy, for taking the time to speak with us today.

Kathy:  Thank you, and you're welcome.