By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
Dozens of children proudly marched down Main Street in Ravenna during Thursday’s Balloon A-Fair Children’s Parade.
The event was the kickoff for the 31st annual Balloon A-Fair.
Ronald McDonald led the parade, followed by a fire engine and 8-year old Julia Lied, this year’s mini marshal. The 8-year-old was chosen because of her essay, “A Road to Heavenly Dreams,” the theme of the year’s parade.
Children dressed as witches, clowns, Scooby Doo and Spider-Man marched down the street. One boy, in apparent honor of the parade’s sponsor, dressed as an order of McDonald’s fries.
Julia’s friends, Hannah Wallis and Emily Starkey, held up a banner in Julia’s honor. Last year, Julia’s older sister, Rachel, was the mini marshal.
After the parade, children gathered at the Portage County Courthouse lawn, where they watched Ronald McDonald entertain them with his “World Famous Magic Show.”
“I’ve never seen him before,” said 3-year-old Autumn Victor, who watched the magic show along with her sisters, Anna, 6, and Celsie, 1, and the family dog, Zoe. All of them, even Zoe, were in costume.
Gyllien Anderson, 5, was dressed in an elaborate costume matching her parents, Kellie and Bill Anderson of Rootstown. Kellie Anderson had dressed the family as the queens and king of hearts, and decorated a wagon to serve as a float.
“My mom designed all of this,” the girl proclaimed proudly.
Kellie Anderson said she first designed the float a few years ago, when Gyllien was too little to march in the parade. This year, she had to create a new dress for her daughter.
“Everybody loves it,” she said. “And Gyllien really likes getting dressed up.”