Ferriday — There was no speeding down E.E. Wallace Boulevard Saturday morning when the Ferriday Christmas parade inched its way through town.

Children of all ages, with candy bags in hand, lined both sides of Ferriday’s main traffic artery, as trailers filled with children bundled in winter coats topped with Santa hats threw candy and shouted Christmas greetings.

Ferriday Chamber of Commerce President Rena Pitts was pleased with the turnout and credited that to pleasant winter weather.

“The weather is great, not too cold,” Pitts said. “We couldn’t have asked for much better of a day.”

The “Rocking around the Christmas Tree”-themed parade had entries of all sorts, from four-wheelers with homemade signs to six John Deere tractors decorated with tinsel and large red bows to a train pulling cars filled with children.

The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office float even had a house with smoke billowing from the chimney.

“There was one float that followed the theme with a tree and a rocking chair,” Pitts said.

Parade attendee Cookie Milligan said the parade was worth braving the chilly weather.

“We came out to have some fun despite the cold weather,” she said.

The judges may have had trouble ranking the parade entries, but Jamya Walker, 8, knew right away which float was her favorite.

“The one with Santa on it,” she said.

While Santa may have been the star in her eyes, there was more that she enjoyed.

“And when they played the drums,” Walker said pointing toward the Ferriday High School Marching Band.

Calvin Johnson, 5, said he had one mission when coming to the parade — to collect candy.

“I got a lot of candy,” he said with his hands full of a fresh batch retrieved from the street.

While Johnson stored his candy in a bag, Camron Milligan, 6, skipped that time-wasting step. “I’ve got a lot of it just in my pockets,” he said.