I have lived in Parker a very long time. I moved here when Wendy's had just been built. Hills grocery store and gas station was on the corner of Hilltop and Parker. Parker Road was a two lane highway. No Wal-Mart, Target or even King Soopers, just Safeway! Back then it was in what is now the furniture store by MacDonald's. Stroh Ranch was still a Ranch. There were not any neighborhood's east of Rowley Downs or even North of it. Mountain View, Northeast Elementary and Pine Lane were the only elementary schools. Parker Junior High and Ponderosa were the only junior high and high schools in town. The library was in what is now Parker Water and there was a bowling alley in what is now the current library location. There was no rec. center. Parker was so different then. Everyone had the 841 prefix and when a business asked you for your phone number you could give them the last four digits and they knew the rest. Up until the early 90's the Christmas Parade allowed kids rather than only carriages.

I remember when this happened. My oldest was in Girl Scouts and I was her troop leader. We had always walked in the Christmas parade until the year they decided to allow only carriages. It was a great parade then. There were lots of children from different groups around town. There were floats and families and it was lots of fun! It was heartbreaking when they changed it. I remember calling and complaining and also feeling that it was a pivotal moment in the atmosphere of Parker. Things were changing. It was growing so fast and there was no looking back. I hadn't been to the Christmas Parade in Parker since then. I went this year and was so very disappointed although not surprised. I have read much of the opinions on this year's parade and I just had to share mine!!! This is what I want to see and what I think would turn it around and bring it back to what it used to be. A real community event where Parker residents get to come out and stand up for this great small little town....sort of small anyway!

I want to see kids, kids, kids! I want to see Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts. I want to see clubs from the schools. I want to see the spirit teams from Ponderosa and Chaparral. I want to see the football teams and the wrestling teams from both schools. Any sports team for that matter. I want to see the marching bands from each school. I want to see the bands and orchestras from our great elementary schools and junior high schools marching or Mr. Strohmans Girls Choir at Sagewood walking and singing. I want to see floats from organizations and churches. I want to see the Parker Fire Department decorate their trucks and walk! I want to see local businesses with floats. I want to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and maybe even Rudolph. I want to see Religious floats. I want to do some Christmas shopping from crafters like I can at the Parker Country Festival. I want to get roasted chestnuts and hot chocolate. I want to let my little one sit on Santa's lap. How about a live Nativity Scene? Yes I think carriages are cool and I don't want them to go away but as I have said for years it should not just be horses and carriages. Yes I know that part of Parkers past is western and wild and I feel that's important to keep. However, I feel that children are our future and I want to see Parker get back to that feeling. A great place to raise kids, to grow up in, to leave and come back too......This song always makes me think of how Parker used to be and I want it back. The Christmas Parade seems like a great place to start!

If you blink, you might miss it:
Population: 803.
Five miles long, four miles wide: feels just right to me.
Where a handshake still means something,
An' the little man still counts.
Water tastes like it's supposed to:
Yeah, folks 'round here are proud,
To be from a little town.

There's a cardboard lemonade stand at the end of our drive.
For fifty cents, they'll fill you up:
He's seven an' she's five.
An' in the Fall, there's Football Fridays:
We pack the kids an' we head out.
We climb the stands and pass the band,
And join the hometown crowd,
An' scream for little town.

Well, the stars, they just seem brighter,
An' the pace is nice an' slow.
An' families stay together.
God must be smilin' down here on little town.
Aren't you glad we settled down here in little town?

Lone Star!!