‘Tis the season — for holiday parades. Dozens will be held in communities across the Hawkeye State today. The lights of Grundy Center will all be off until St. Nick arrives on his sleigh, then the town’s skyline will be dramatically lit up all at once. In Fort Madison, 50 lighted floats will sail down Avenue G tonight at 6:30. Most of them were built by Rich Mohrfeld, a Fort Madison businessman and parade chairman. People who miss the parade can see all of the illuminated floats as they’ll fill Fort Madison’s Central Park as holiday displays through early January. Mohrfeld says the floats are very beautiful and intricate and many of them feature moving parts, including a butterfly flapping its wings, falling snowflakes and even a swing-span bridge. More holiday parades are scheduled today and tonight in: Perry, Chariton, Belmond and Winterset, with plenty more next week in towns including: Oskaloosa, Bedford and Waterloo.
