Local heroes help parade rebound

The Lilac Festival Association is saluting local good guys with its “Here’s to the Heroes” theme for Saturday’s Armed Forces Torchlight Parade. Organizers say topping that list of heroes this year are festival sponsors who’ve rescued the annual event from dire financial straits.

Festival directors faced a nearly empty reserve early this year after the 2006 parade lost $46,000.

Hearing the cries for help, local businesses stepped forward to fill the gap, said Darla DeCristoforo, Lilac Festival vice president of royalty.

“When we risk not having the festival, people panic. We were at risk,” DeCristoforo said. “We are healthy now. We’re back.”

Festival sponsors include Spokane Teachers Credit Union, Sterling Savings, KHQ, Internet Expressway, Wells Fargo Bank, The Spokane Tribe of Indians, The Davenport Hotel, Comcast, Mark Webb Diamond Jewelers, Spokane Masonic Center, Bank of Whitman, Vandervert Construction, Green Gables Photography, Ziggy’s, F&M Bank, The Soda Factory and Celestial Selections.

In addition, Wandermere Golf Course is the first company to underwrite the annual Lilac pin, said Lilac Festival Association President Sandy Brown.

Brown said having a pin sponsor was a last-minute idea.

“We’re paying a lot more attention to the sponsors this year,” said DeCristoforo.

In addition, organizers have scaled back some aspects of the festival in recent years, including reducing the number of Lilac royalty from 13 to seven and eliminating a post-parade fireworks show.

There’s still plenty to see, however.

This year’s Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade will feature more than 200 entries, including floats, marching bands, horseback riders and antique cars.

A KC-135 refueling plane will fly over the Riverfront Park clock tower to start the parade.

But there will be no giant character balloons.

“We love having balloons, but they hate us because of our skywalks,” DeCristoforo said.

Volunteers were busy Wednesday assembling the royal court’s red, white and blue float that features spinning rings and a giant dove.

The princesses also chipped in to help.

“We got to play with power tools,” said Lilac Queen Wylie Patton, from Freeman High School.

The royal court has been busy since being chosen in February, going to two to four events each week.

DeCristoforo told the story of a visit to a nursing home for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. One man, a former artist, hadn’t spoken in months, but when Princess Alexandra Stierwalt of North Central High School entered his room he perked up.

“He saw Alexandra and said, ‘May I sketch you?’ ” said DeCristoforo. “It was the first time he had spoken in months.”