The Strathmore Stampede was a huge success this year, and with it came the success of the annual parade! This year's parade saw a wide variety of floats and vehicles, all celebrating the start of Stampede and this year's theme: "Puttin' on the Boots".

The Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce (SWCC) hosted this year's parade, and Past Chair Hayley Poirier says the community involvement was great.

"It went really well, the attendance and the participation from the audience was exactly what we'd hoped for. There was a really great combination of different floats this year, which we liked to see, and we're going to look for even more variety next year too." 

80 floats entered this year, which makes it one of the biggest parades in recent memory. It nearly doubled last year's amount, which was 44. Poirier credits this year's success to the wonderful atmosphere created by the Strathmore Stampede.

"People are feeling they really want to get out and celebrate again. The Strathmore Stampede does such a great job putting on a party for everybody, and I think everybody was just in that party mood and wanted to come out and show off their business or community volunteer group, who they were, and what they were all about."

This year it wasn't just floats, as the Funrunners joined in on the fun as well! The Funrunners is a group of car enthusiasts with a wide variety of unique vehicles. Whether it's retro, souped up, modern, extremely rare, or some combination of those, they have a car for everyone.

"They (Funrunners) are an amazing group of individuals that put blood sweat and tears into their vehicle, so they also came out to show off their beautiful vehicles."

This year's 1st place prize went to the Strathmore Filipino-Canadian Association, 2nd place went to Strathmore Square Dance, and 3rd place was a tie between Expressions Dance and The Legion. the awards are $500, $300, and $100 respectively. 

Winners were chosen by a committee of judges based on different criteria, which included participation from the float itself, and how well they represented the theme of "Puttin' on the Boots". You were also deducted points if you broke the rules, like throwing candy from your float.

After the success of this year, the SWCC hopes to host next year's festival as well.

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