Smithfield Christmas Parade returns
Published 5:39 pm Monday, December 11, 2023
- Smithfield's annual Christmas parade returned Dec. 9. Here, Smithfield’s Southside Ballet dancers perform. (Photos by Stephen Faleski | The Smithfield Times)
Smithfield’s annual Christmas parade returned on Dec. 9, drawing hundreds of spectators to Main and Grace streets.
New to the parade this year were four snowplows painted by Isle of Wight County middle and high school students as part of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s “Paint the Plow” initiative, intended to raise awareness of safe winter driving. A panel of parade judges named Smithfield High’s plow, which featured an image of Santa’s sleigh being pulled by a team of pigs, the “best plow” in the parade.
Other award-winners this year were:
- Best band – Smithfield High School
- Best dance team – Southside Ballet Studio
- Best marching unit – Field of Dreams Gymnastics
- Best float – Hardy Ford family
- Best animal – Isle of Wight County Animal Shelter
- Best vehicle – Smith Fast Lube
- Best car club – Ham Town Jeeps
- Best overall – Carrollton Elementary third-grade chorus
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- Smithfield Police Chief Alonzo Howell waves to spectators at the 2023 Smithfield Christmas Parade (File photo)
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- David Kimball and Troy Bonner watch from the sidewalk.
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- Smithfield’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8545 kick off the parade.
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- Jeffrey, Lauren and Landon Evans await the start of the parade.
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- Isle of Wight County Fair queens Madison Lowe, Amelia Pulley and Addison Crown wave to spectators.
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- Cris, Kamara and Kamai Marshall wait for the parade.
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- Reenactors with the 1750 Courthouse and Regency Society walk down Main Street in costume.
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- The Poquoson Islanderettes perform.
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- Smithfield Middle school students and staff wave from a float.
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- Members of Paul D. Camp Community College’s Hurricanes baseball team cheer and wave.
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- Majorettes lead the Windsor High School band.
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- The Windsor High School Marching Dukes perform.
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- Footnotes School of Dance performs.
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- Brooklyn Rosenthal-Brown does a back-flip as Smithfield’s Footnotes School of Dance makes its way down Main Street.
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- Sophia Castiblanco of Footnotes School of Dance leaps into the air.
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- Smithfield High School’s cheerleaders perform.
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- Smithfield Little Theatre actors dressed in Victorian-era costumes from their production of Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, wave from the back of a pickup truck and float.
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- The Newport News Police Pipes and Drums band performs.
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- Members of Smithfield’s Cub Scout Pack 36 wave from a float.
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- A VDOT snowplow painted by Smithfield High School students was named “best plow” of the four that entered the Smithfield Christmas Parade.
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- Judges named Carrollton Elementary’s third-grade chorus “best overall” in the 2023 Smithfield Christmas Parade.
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- Parade judges named Field of Dreams Gymnastics, a Smithfield team, the best marching unit this year. Here, Jocelynn Beckman performs a backflip.
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- Kayleigh Wilson does a backflip as Jocelynn Beckman watches.
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- Emma Guardia does a backflip as Mackenzie Hess watches.
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- A girl waves from Ham Town Jeeps, a local car club.
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- Children with Calvary Baptist Church wave from a float.
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- Smithfield Foods employees and their families wave from a float dubbed “The Hamtown Express.”
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- The Treacherous Divas Dance Company performs.
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- Majorettes lead the Smithfield High School band.
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- The Smithfield High School band performs.
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- Santa Claus, portrayed by Frank Brown, waves from the back of a Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department ladder truck.
