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Around 100 floats participated in this year’s parade and nine bands were in attendance to ring in the holiday’s in Cambridge. Parade Co-Chair Bruce McWilliams said it was difficult to choose a favorite float because participants “went all out.�

Parade Co-Chair Amanda McWilliams said there were roughly 5,000 in-person paradegoers and folks from Florida to Michigan tuned in for the live stream. There were 101 entries, but a handful didn’t show or dropped out prior to the reviewing stand partially because of the weather and the difficulty considering the parade route is approximately 2 miles.

“What I can say with 100% certainty is that the parade duration was two hours in length,� Amanda wrote in an email to the Star Democrat.

This year’s theme “Surfing into Christmas� gave a fun and interesting twist to the floats. McWilliams said the strong participant engagement and creative execution aligned with the event themes, contributing to the overall quality of the event.

The parade is fully volunteer-driven and community-funded. The parade committee is composed of 11 people who manage all aspects of the event. McWilliams said they have received overwhelming positive feedback from the parade.

“From what everybody’s telling me, it was good, and everybody had a good time,� McWilliams said.

This year’s parade winners include:

• VA Cambridge for their non-commercial adult float.
• Dorchester Diamonds for their non-commercial youth float.
• The Dorchester County Sheriff for their marching unit on foot.
• The Neck District for their Fire Department float.
• Foskey Construction for best commercial float.
• Miss Outdoors for best float of royalty.
• Dorchester County Career and Tech for best school/school sponsored club.

For high Â鶹´«Ã½ marching bands:

• Mardela Middle and High won 3rd place.
• Kent Island won 2nd place.
• Snow Hill won 1st place.

For middle Â鶹´«Ã½ marching bands:

• Choptank Elementary won 3rd place.
• Maces Lane won 2nd place.
• North Dorchester won 1st place.

For individual instruments:

• Mardela won best drum major.
• Kent Island won best percussion.
• Snow Hill won best band front.
• Snow Hill won best winds/brass.
• Snow Hill won best overall band.

The judges’ choice float winner went to Bowie State “Symphony of Soul.�