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Many are looking forward to the Greater Valley Area Christmas parade that will take place on Thursday. A couple of participants shared their plans for their floats.

Participant Jody Buckner said he repainted his daughter’s playhouse to look like a gingerbread house. Buckner plans to pull it on the back of a rollback tow truck from Holladay Wrecker Service, for whom he works.

He said he’s been working on the float on and off for two weeks with help from his wife and daughter.

The gingerbread house, he said, will have a fireplace that will blow smoke. It will have a firepit on the back with a propane-fueled flame.

“I hope it won’t rain, because they’re going to reschedule for Saturday [if it rains] at 10 a.m.,” he said. “But during the day, you won’t be able to see all the lights and stuff.”

At Lafayette Lanier Elementary School, gifted teacher Joy Yates is in charge of decorating the school’s float with the help of students. She said the float is still in the design phase and that  she and students will stay after school on Wednesday to work on it.

“Our leadership students are the ones that are participating, our honor society and SGA students,” Yates said.

The float will be decorated by arts and crafts made by the students. One of the arts and crafts students will work on is a balloon garland that resembles Christmas lights, as well as Christmas trees made from yardsticks.

Yates said that because her school is known for having candles in its windows during the Christmas season, it will also have a window made of yardsticks, which will have a candle in it.

“Our theme for this year for our school is “Lafayette Lanier Elementary School lighting the way,” she said.

In addition to the balloon garland, the float will have real lights.

Yates said the float will be pulled by an SGA student’s parents. Students will have the option to walk beside the float or ride it. They will be dressed in Christmas colors and wearing light-up necklaces.

“We have a vision,” Yates said. “We hope it all comes together. It’s one of those things that has to be kid-friendly because it’s all about the kids, but it also has to be presentable for the public, and that is a challenging balance sometimes.”