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The Riverside High School Air Force Junior ROTC, getting ready to march, stood in full uniform regalia -- including gloves.
Durham's annual downtown holiday parade Saturday afternoon was a test for the hardy. With temperatures going down, a light rain steadily falling and a strong wind whipping the rain almost sideways at times, both parade marchers and the somewhat sparse crowds that lined the downtown streets had to bundle up.
But the weather didn't detract from the festiveness of the occasion -- at least not for 7-year-old Jonas Farrington.
Swallowed up by his down parka, Jonas couldn't wait for the parade to begin.
"I'm waiting for Santa," he said. "Have you seen him? Do you know where he is? That's who I'm waiting for. That's who I want to see."
But before Santa, there were the official grand marshals, blues legends John Dee Holeman and Cool John Ferguson, waving from their green and white float. There were local officials, most -- like Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden and City Council member Mike Woodard -- smartly riding in heated, covered vehicles.
There was the ReMax real estate float, periodically spouting blue and yellow flames from its hot-air balloon tank, with people moving closer to feel the heat.
But then there was also the Durham School of the Arts Bagpipe Band, with all members in kilts and knee-high leggings.
"My legs are doing fine. They're used to this," said bagpiper Ken Hanson. "Some of the kids in the band, though, I'm not so sure."
When the Hillside High Hornets Marching Band passed by, playing a drum-heavy version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Joseph Drake, waiting along Jackie Robinson Street, bopped along with them.
"That's the way to stay warm," Drake said, before shouting out, "Go Hillside, Go." "You gotta move with them," he said.
Drake hadn't been to the parade, he figured, since around 2000. "I had missed it for so many years," he said. "But I'm glad I came this time. I love parades. I don't care about the weather."
