Nahant Santa Parade welcomes all to escort Santa Claus

NAHANT – You never know what you’re going to get with a Christmas parade that opens its doors to anyone who wants to participate.Participants in Saturday’s Nahant Santa Parade ran the gamut, from bikers to police and fire officials to gaggles of middle- school students. But the spirit of one of the town’s biggest annual events stayed the same.For 16 years, the town of Nahant has invited anyone from surrounding towns who can throw candy or look good surrounded by Christmas decorations to escort Santa and Mrs. Claus through the island.The parade averages about 100 floats a year, and this year was no different.Surrounded among the wreath-decked fire engines and blinking tow trucks was a group of 20 hardy four-wheel drivers from the Lynn-based biking club Blurred Vision.Decked out in camouflage jacket and a pointy elf hat with spiraling Christmas lights, club president Dennis Badger said he rides in the Nahant parade and Lynn’s annual parade, which is next Saturday, every year.But this parade always has a high turnout of participants, he said.”A lot of people come to this parade because it’s not on Christmas Eve,” he said as he revved up his engine.A few floats away, a Salem trolley carried a dozen screaming middle-school students who seemed to have eaten the candy they were supposed to have given out. As the graduating class of Johnson Middle School in Nahant, they had earned the right to participate in the parade.”I’m excited cause I get to act like a nut and no one will ever see me again,” Olivia Barton said. “Plus I really like Christmas.”When the clock struck 6, the parade participants started getting restless, and fire trucks honked their horns in anticipation of the hour-long ride through Nahant. They finally took off into the chilly air, to the delight of parade attendees lining the causeway.For 10-year-old Ben Berte of Haverhill, the magic of seeing Santa on an island beat out any chilly thoughts.”We’re on Hawaii!” he exclaimed as he threw open his Santa hat to catch candy.Bringing up the rear of the parade was Santa Claus himself, Nahant resident Kenny Doyle, alongside Mrs. Claus, Karen Wilfret of Lynn.On this night 10 years ago, Doyle said he was nervous when he first agreed to do the parade, but now he looks forward to the magic of the night.”We like seeing the joy in the kids’ faces,” he said.If you missed last week’s parade, you can still catch many of the same floats in this week’s parade, starting at 5 p.m.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].