Written By Lisa Breslin
Westminster’s holiday celebrations will move up a notch this year.
The city will have the annual tree lighting and the awarding of the Mayor’s Cup to the business with the most creative window display. Santa will be there too.
But the highlight of the Westminster City’s holiday festivities on November 28 will be the town’s first Electric Holiday Parade, filled with more than 30 floats festooned with a minimum of 2,000 lights.
The parade has been in the works for years – at least in the mind of Eileen Dutterer Gist and family members Lori Welsh-Graham and Jalna Brown.
Gist, now dubbed the “Princess of Power” by parade committee members, “doesn’t sleep. She dreams up ideas,” said Welsh-Graham, who chairs Westminster’s Downtown Committee. “When people ask about how many volunteer hours go into creating a tradition like this, we should count Eileen’s sleep time. Her best ideas come during the wee hours of the morning.”
To say that the plans for the floats are elaborate would be an understatement.
The float for Airpark Animal Hospital, for example, includes a giant letter to Santa scrawled on a 14-foot high foam board. With the letter as a backdrop, children will be lying in sleeping bags dreaming about cats and dogs. Above the children, fluffy clouds will float with portraits of the animals owned by Airpark Animal Hospital Employees.
This year’s holiday parade will also feature floats the following:
¥ A snow family (mom and dad topping at 8 ft.)
¥ The mayor and city council members seated on benches shaded by lighted trees in front of a hand-painted rendition of the town clock (by artist Connie Woolard).
¥ A forest of money trees (New Windsor State Bank).
¥ A live nativity scene (The Leister Family).
¥ An 8-ft. long helicopter with moving blades hovering below camouflage netting (29th Combat Aviation Brigade, Maryland National Guard).
¥ A gingerbread house for Santa surrounded by gingerbread children dancing with oversized, lighted lollipops (The Boys and Girls Club of Westminster).
¥ A butterfly with a 14-foot wingspan (inspired by the Megan Taylor Foundation).
The parade committee, in charge of planning for the City of Westminster, led by Lyndi McNulty, and Stanley Ruchlewicz, worked out the logistics and technical problems. In fact, the committee and members of a woodworking group at Carroll Lutheran Village (led by Carl Reed and Ed Chatfield), plus Mark Dgasperi at Interstate Battery have been bolstering parade efforts.
“The parade has a heartbeat now,” said Gist, who chairs the Electric Floats Committee. “It has finally moved from the early Ôcan-we-do-this planning’ to reality.”
The Electric Holiday Parade will kick off at 5 p.m., followed by the City of Westminster’s Tree Lighting at Locust Lane. Afterwards, Recreation and Parks and The Westminster Lions Club will host Santa’s Treat, a party for children that will include games, rides and visits with Santa. Information: 410-848-9350 or, 410-876-7979. – L.M.B.
