ITEM PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Tyler Maynard and his father Sonny adjust one of the lights on their High Rock Tower float in preparation for the Lynn Christmas Eve parade.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Poised to roll into its 29th year, the annual Christmas Eve parade is a multi-generational labor of love that begins in local garages like Sonny Maynard’s in West Lynn.
The Medford tow-truck driver will pull his miniature version of High Rock Tower complete with the Highland landmark’s signature dome in the parade on Thursday night.
“It’s the product of many, many nights in the garage, but it’s all worth it,” Maynard said.
With the help of son, Tyler, and cousin, Matt Hatch, Maynard — like many parade participants — owes his involvement in the annual holiday parade to the late Richie Viger. The face and — according to City Councilor-elect Jay Walsh — the soul of the parade along, with the late Mike Kidney, Viger died in 2013.
Maynard built his tower atop a donated trailer four years ago and surrounded it with decorations, including Dominic the donkey, penguins and a polar bear, at Viger’s urging.
“He said, ‘How come you’re not in the parade?’” Maynard recalled.
Tyler Maynard attends Lincoln-Thomson School and said helping to assemble the family float is hard work that pays off when he gets to stay up late on Christmas Eve. The parade’s 75 homemade floats roll out of Austin Square at 5 p.m. and finish winding their way around the city at about 9:30 p.m. on Boston Street.
Like Maynard, Tim Decareau is a parade veteran who says he grew up helping with the parade and building floats. As a boy, he rode in his father, Robert’s, truck along the parade route, stopping at intersections to block them temporarily from traffic while the floats passed by.
By the age of 8, Decareau had donned costumes at Viger’s urging to entertain parade viewers and he took over float construction and a spot in the parade from his father. His Snoopy’s house features the famous cartoon dog and “Mrs. Snoopy,” along with Woodstock perched in a tree and garland decorated with Christmas lights decorating the edge of the float trailer.
“Everything on this is custom made,” Decareau said.
He takes credit for being the first parade participant to roll along the often-frigid route on an all-terrain vehicle and Decareau takes pride in never missing a parade. Wife, Teri, and son, Jeremy Dunajski, have “gotten used” to the time he spends preparing his float.
“Seeing the excitement and the biggest grins on grownups is great,” he said.
Walsh said the parade endures as a Lynn tradition partly because of West Lynn residents’ fondness for Viger’s memory and because all the preparations for it begin in local garages and driveways with participants pouring their own money into floats and decorations.
“For some people, this time of year is tough and the parade lifts spirits. If it wasn’t for individuals, the parade wouldn’t be successful,” Walsh said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
