North Aurora club hosts kid-friendly parade

North Aurora kids have the chance to be the stars of the 6th annual Baseball Parade starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, sponsored by the North Aurora Mothers Club and the North Aurora Baseball Association.

Parade Chairwoman Cristy Petitjean of the Mothers Club has been busy lining up the baseball teams, marchers and the food vendors at the end of the parade route.

For the past five years the parade has started on Oak Street by the library and ended at the baseball fields by Goodwin School, but the road construction on Oak Street this spring has forced the parade to change its route.

This year's route for the 30 minute parade will be north on White Oak Drive from Oak Street and then west on Hawksley Lane to the mobile units at Fearn Elementary School.

Baseball teams in the parade will receive a free pizza meal afterward. Other marchers and spectators can buy pizza, ice cream and drinks.

"We hope the weather is great and that a lot of people come out and support the kids this year," Petitjean said.

She said at least 35 baseball teams will march in the parade, as well as horses from Huntoon Stables and members of Excel Gymnastics, the Fox Valley Corvette Club, the North Aurora Police and Fire departments, Moves Dance Studio, Messenger Public Library and some Girl Scout troops.

Spectator parking is on Waterford Road, Forest Ridge and the parking lots at Fearn Elementary and Jewel Middle schools, Petitjean said.

It used to be enough for our family to just to stake out a spot on the curb (preferably in the shade) and watch the parade go by.

But since my family participated in the Batavia Founder's Day parade with the families from Karate for Kids in Batavia, we have a taste for being in the parade.

I sent out a sign-up sheet for my daughter's Daisy Girl Scout troop to see who wanted to march in the baseball parade as a troop. A half a dozen Daisies are able to march tomorrow, and mom Jennifer Siwek said it was basically her daughter Natalie's "dream come true" to be in it.

From what the little ones tell me, the best part of a parade is the candy. We saw some kids at the Batavia parade with plastic bags so full of treats it looked like they had been out trick-or-treating.

We've been to some parades where candy distribution was banned, and it takes a lot of fun out of the day for the kids on the curbs. So on Saturday we'll bring a wagon and some water and some candy for the kids to hand out to other kids on the parade route.

Because the route is only about one mile this year, I'll see if we can be dropped off at the beginning and walk home across Orchard Road after the event.

We'll get some exercise, save a parking place for people who live farther away and have to drive, and get our chance again to be the stars of the show, at least for a half hour on Saturday.

Whether you are in the parade or not, come on out Saturday morning and cheer on the kids. And cheer on the Mothers Club for putting on the event despite the Oak Street construction project.