The 37th Annual Children's Holiday Parade in Fall River, Massachusetts, was a festive event co-hosted by Pauline McGrath from FRED TV and another commentator. Grace Girling from Fall River Recreation was credited as the primary organizer, with 93-year-old volunteer Reno Vivalvo assisting. The parade, described as the largest of its kind in New England, featured numerous community groups, schools, businesses, and emergency services. Due to a helium shortage, the parade's three large balloons, including a Nutcracker and Kung Fu Panda, were filled with hot air by Dynamic Inflatables of Michigan and handled by various organizations like Stewart Healthcare and Liberty Utilities. Highlights included the Fall River Police Department's motorcycle unit, the Fall River Fire Department and EMS showcasing new apparatus, and various marching bands such as Case High School, Somerset Berkeley Regional, Portsmouth High School, and Durfee High School. Community organizations like Saint Anthony of the Desert raised $4,000 for food donations to Watson Elementary School families and collected toys for over 150 children. The Fall River War Veterans Council displayed an 80% replica of the Vietnam Wall, and the River Rocks group, recognized as Champions of Peace by Mayor Paul Coogan, showcased their uplifting painted rocks. Float competition winners were announced, with Relay for Life placing first, Tanzi Elementary School second, and a collaboration of Kuss, Talbot, and Morton Middle Schools placing third for their "North Pole Bakery" float. Beyond the parade, several holiday events and initiatives were promoted, including a sold-out Sons of Serendip concert at Durfee High School, a Christmas celebration by the Recreation Department, and a craft fair benefiting the Fall River Scholarship Association. The Fall River Historical Society reopened its gift shop for fundraising, and Citizens for Citizens (CFC) continued its toy drive. The city also announced its 13th annual Parking Ticket Amnesty Program, allowing drivers to pay unpaid parking tickets without late fees until January 8th, a decision overseen by Director of Traffic and Parking Laura Ferreira. The day concluded with a tree lighting ceremony at Government Center.
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0:28television reporting live to you and i have a co-host this year thank you this i'm pauline mcgrath from fred tv up at durfee high school channel 9. happy to be here thanks for inviting me hi i'm not the blast santa is no actually grace girling over at recreation in fall river is the boss she does an amazing job truly setting this parade up truly amazing it's a big beast she also wants to thank her sidekick 93
0:56year old vivalvo who has been working tireless behind the scenes as a volunteer for about 20 years so reno we love you and oh by the way tonight i know rita will already be calling to ask for a copy
1:18he's a good guy he's just an institution well we hope that if you're at home watching please know that we will of course
1:37their seats by oh my goodness about 10 30 11 o'clock hi everybody yeah there you go you see yourself you know it's like that kiss cam that ain't happening oh we've had some good things happen on this show though you know because we're in the festive spirit and it's so nice to feel like we're out of the doldrums for a while it's a beautiful day 100 100 all right well i want to talk about
2:03what we saw a little bit earlier on in the week it was this amazing teamwork that is making the dream work so the fabulous christmas tree this year was amazing to see in action as it made its way through the city about a three-mile route now this breath takes taking let me start again breath taking piece of work includes some drone footage that was filmed by my co-worker and very good friend evan massoud enjoy
2:40on a crisp morning in late november a section of north underwood street was blocked off neighbors wondered why road maintenance more water line replacements nope none of that work crews were out removing a blue spruce that's outgrown its boundaries this pine has the distinction of being selected as fall river's official city christmas tree for 2021
3:18the three-mile route from the city's north end to government center was mapped out prior but proved to be tedious and slow going the fabulously shaped pine weighs a whopping 4 000 pounds it's a beautiful tree really beautiful and thank you to mr and mrs medeiros from north underwood street for donating it i think it's one of the tallest we've ever had as you can see it's probably about you know eight
3:39to ten feet above the council chamber so i'd say it's one of the tallest maybe not one of the fattest trees we've ever had but it is definitely one of the tallest about 40 feet the tree will be strung with more than five thousand lights in years past john watched squirrels scamper down the trunk just as the tree was dropping crews have also found birds nests which thankfully were already vacated you
4:01always tell us where the tree is coming from we see it get cut we see it go up but what happens to it at the end of the season well unfortunately it just gets cut right down so we'll we'll cut all the limbs down and then we'll bring the trunk down piece by piece and then we'll start again next year other companies involved include mrc freight from berkeley and dunlap crane
4:22out of seacock the crane registered the weight of the tree as it was hoisted in the air it's a multiple departments within dcm but then also we have mr bishop brian bishop from bishop electric bruce bannister from b b contracting obviously the crane company it's a group effort but everybody bands together to get it done and i think everybody does a great job john thanks the contractors who
4:47volunteer crews and equipment for the high profile holiday task and as one who is always proactive john is already soliciting a tree for 2022. happy holidays everyone so cool and we're up there right now it's like crazy i know i love those shots too great job evan evan did a great job you know i said i'd do it for him but i couldn't promise that i wouldn't crash the drone
5:16i wouldn't try it take out the tree hey um so you see evan and i all over folks every day in the city we cover the press conferences for the mayorals as well as all the candidates and we cover debates we cover sports and we're happy to do it so thank you to all of you folks in the city who make my job and our job here at fall river government television in
5:38front of the camera and behind the camera so very easy and pauline you have a pretty good team too yeah i'd like to thank the students out there some of who are actually here with us today working with us um special shout out to meadow brandon and anthony and former students too we've got jake fitzgerald as well behind the camera so i have the best job in the whole world not only do i get to
6:00co-host here today but i get to to be with these kids they keep me young i like to think so anyway and i have someone here anthony grant come on in come on over anthony who is one of my students in tv2 class so anthony tell me a little bit about what you're doing here today um so i'm here uh taking pictures and stills for uh for tv and it's uh really fun to be out here
6:24um and just get to capture a moment you know everyone having fun and just enjoying the holidays it is a nice nice moment to enjoy the holidays and see all the festivities here and smiles and anyone watching right now please make sure that uh if you see anthony here make sure that you actually will smile for the camera okay and tell me a little bit about your favorite things about fred to be um it's
6:48it's great to be here and it's great to you know exercise certain creative like possibilities you know fred tv allows you to to do that and express yourself but it's also great to be paid to do those things so it's a it's a great outlet you know um the arts industry doesn't get very much representation these days but to be able to have a program that's interested in what you want to do and have full faith
7:09in you and completely support and back you is really amazing well love having you anthony thank you very much appreciate everything you know they really represent our school and the program so very well and i thank so many of the generous sponsors who have also given to our scholarship program they're recognized in may and june at our video festival so if you're out there and you'd like to
7:33consider a scholarship through fred tv at durfee high school we'd love to speak with you thank you anthony too and who's there meadow wow we just saw some more on camera meadow and prandtl yeah um so like i mentioned pauline this really is the largest of its kind of this parade in new england yes and there really isn't any other parade going on in the local area so we were talking to some
7:57people earlier who are coming in from somerset from dayton from asonet and freetown so it's not um just the fall river community it's surrounding towns as well which is which is wonderful now this little one may not quite remember this year's parade but i guarantee this is a tradition that they will want to keep up with my kids are 20 and 22 now yours about the same age pauline but they came to this
8:22parade and would watch mom and um march with tansy yeah a couple of years with tansy elementary school it rained i can't say those were the best but i feel really lucky today i mean it is fabulous weather great day we're lucky the wind is is kind of died down a little bit from earlier so we're very fortunate thank god right because you never really know up here well i want to talk a
8:46little bit oh there we go there's some festive folks going on see these stands are pretty good these risers go up sometimes the night before and people are encouraged to stake out their area now the floats have already been judged and pauline and i were lucky enough to play a role in that a very minor role of getting down to kennedy park earlier this morning and kind of looking at some
9:12of the activities judging the floats on construction creativity craftsmanship craftsmanship originality originality presentation presentation a lot of work went into these folks oh my gosh you know it's a lot of work and remember volunteer i can kind of hear some noise behind us so let's get to this very important story of giving it saint anthony of the desert is a maronite catholic parish with a large population
9:37of worshipers of lebanese descent and lebanese immigrants every year the church community makes a sizable donation to the children at watson school good deeds peaceful words and loving gifts strengthen our community love is a muscle and must be worked and shared worshippers at saint anthony of the desert raised four thousand dollars to purchase turkeys and other food items we try to live the gospel to its fullest
10:07and to be proactive not just in word but indeed as well giving is the best feeling it's it's giving over receiving and i want people to understand that especially in this time of year and i really truly believe that's what it's about not to sound cliche but once you do it you feel the reward so i encourage everybody to give more than they receive especially in this time of year in 2018 when senior james roo was
10:35assigned to saint anthony of the desert he was excited for a fresh start and to serve at a smaller parish well let me tell you i was living in the great city of new york in the borough of brooklyn and when i first moved here people said to me father it's a nice size city i said how many inhabitants they said oh roughly eighty thousand i said excuse me my neighborhood in brooklyn heights
11:01brooklyn by the brooklyn bridge was over 80 000 people but i found a loving community an accepting community very welcoming to everyone i love it here i loved my neighborhood in new york but i'm so glad to be out of new york so it's this is home for me the collection will feed 30 families at watson elementary school on eastern avenue the caravan of volunteers delivered the food boxes which will be
11:32sent home with the neediest children we have families living together in multiple generational homes but yet you know because of the financial times you know people really need the support at the holiday season and we are very grateful to saint anthony's the original church was located near watson elementary many older members of the parish were raised in this neighborhood lebanese immigrants founded saint
12:00anthony of the desert about 110 years ago in the flynn now in the mid-1970s the church moved to eastern avenue its current location and has about 200 families concern for the students well-being carries over to the home environment watson school staff seek assistance for children who lack warm clothing and nutritious meals people are working but they're working two three jobs and it's
12:28just people aren't able to make ends meet at the holiday season it's it's tough out there the collection drive was so successful that additional donations are on their way to veterans centers as well as saint vincent's youth services maronite youth advisor julia corey says all generations have much to share my connection to my spirituality to god to my church it it really pays off at the end of the day and
12:56you can sleep well at night and you know it's it's all about feeling the peace at the end of the day in addition saint anthony of the desert is donating toys for more than 150 children assisted by agencies across the
13:19that city tells me his community is collecting medical supplies which will be sent to lebanon sadly the lebanese people are in crisis and they face shortages of even the most basic medicine such as aspirin saint anthony of the desert is also a little lost in that definitely worth a drive by with more than 15 000 lights so drive by eastern avenue i've done so it's fantastic that's right you know
13:44sometimes when we're up here and we hear emergency vehicles it's a little unsettling we know something might be wrong in the city not today there's some pretty good stuff and you can hear it happening behind us it's the fall river motorcycle unit that's heading off our parade a tradition and we've got a lot of things today did you know pam that there was actually a helium shortage so
14:03the balloons filled with hot air today there will be three balloons uh donated by dynamic inflatables of michigan and they're filled with hot air those will be coming down along with so many of the floats that we judged earlier fabulous floats can't give up the winner just yet yeah it's so fun um but you can probably see just at the top of the screen over there that the motorcycle unit is on
14:26their way and as we were talking with some of the great officers this morning the first motorcycle unit kind of came into power here in fall river in the 1950s it was an indian motorcycle let's take a listen
14:59all right
15:30okay so as we said a friendly competition drop a toy off either at a fall river fire department or fall river police station they're trying to see who gets the most toys
16:03just a reminder we'll be rebroadcasting this parade and other events throughout the city uh channel 9 channel 18 as we are streaming also live on facebook right now this will be read broadcast several times throughout the next coming weeks
16:36oh
16:50all right here are our elves as is always kicking off the 37th annual fall river children's holiday take it parade and our elves come from connecticut and new jersey they sure do connecticut tonight come visit us yes the fall river police department is one of the oldest police departments in the united states this is our traffic division under the direction of chief jeffrey cardoza
17:33all right you're looking at wally come on whoa he's got some dances going on i want to hear what he's hearing oh this is funny stuff i'll tell you when was the last time evan 2013 that 2018. there's a reason why we stick evan on sport just kidding anyway 2018 come on wally let's make it happen again here they are all waiving in their refinery we have mayor paul cooper how are you merry christmas hey mike
18:10merry christmas merry christmas
18:26was recently elected to his second turn
18:38i hear more sirens i sure do merry christmas
19:08yeah pauline hey there's a really cool event going on tonight what is it it's called sons of serendipity okay it's actually a sold out concert it's being held at durfee the new auditorium can't wait um wonderful wonderful band christmas music just gets everyone in the spirit we're going to be broadcasting that as well on channel 9 and streaming live on facebook so something to look forward to as well
19:34once again this evening it's a fun packed day then we have several things going on tomorrow we have recreation is having their christmas celebration from 12 to 3 at 45 rock street yep there's lots going on they will have hot chocolate on rock street again run by recreation grace girling and reno will be there to help out wally is still going at it he definitely has some dance moves
20:02all right i want to be there after happy holidays from new england's largest children's holiday parade right here in historic fall river massachusetts i want to tell you about sons of serendip as pauline mentioned so important tune in to channel nine on comcast tonight and stream live on fall river educational television at facebook do not miss these guys they're fabulous tickets went they were free but they
20:33went in about an hour well the mayor wanted to make sure that everyone still has the opportunity to enjoy the sounds and sights of the season there's anne-marie and stephanie taking it away they look like they're having fun driving that car that's actually an authentic 1901 oldsmobile like what a car started off as that's what i'm told members of the fall river fire department and ems we
21:06have to thank paramedic captain jen rodriguez she has deserved a standing ovation her work during the cro covid crisis was outstanding according to chief john lynch
21:33and the special services unit is part of the fall river emergency management agency and the fire department they perform rehab and lighting for the firefighters in fall river and around our surrounding communities all of these members are volunteers
21:58oh there's sparky the fire dog hi sparky
22:23got some new fire and ems apparatus and the fire crews are happy to show it off today to residents of fall river
22:45think i see chief lynch over there what's he giving out candy right to the children's hearts i love it
23:28really
23:41ah
23:56okay i want to give a plug to the historical society at 451 rock street if you haven't been you've got to get there so unfortunately due to the covid crisis we haven't had the festival of trees now at the historical society for the second year and so there's some issues with fundraising so what do they do well michael martens gets creative and reopens the gift shop bigger and better
24:22than ever with some fabulous sales and one-of-a-kind items most of them locally made and for you book lovers out there there are dozens of books for sale by local authors many of them autographed i mean the topics are endless so of course we got lizzy and also stories about mill owners and other famous fall river rights the hurricanes of 38 and 54. so get over to the historical society and support our
24:53non-profits our historical entities and the arts during this tough time i remember the cfc the big blue building on griffin street is collecting new toys right now so please see crystal opera to make a donation of toys okay we are still watching our huge contingent of these folks that keep us safe day and night literally responding to tens of thousands of emergency calls every year
25:29here in the city as well as providing support to outlining communities as well it's been a tough job during covid these folks weren't really sure what they were getting into when they entered homes thank you again to the fall river ems and our paramedic captain jane roderick she deserves a standing ovation according to fall river fire chief john lynch
26:18coming up now we have the america red cross disaster action team they support families that are displaced from their homes to to disasters they are a great organization that contributes to the relief efforts health and wellness missions and more we're always happy to have them represented in this parade yeah you know there's a fire there right there handing out coffee soup blankets
26:42to folks in need and it's just nice to have that comforting hand behind them whoa hey is that a mustang evan with the state police nice oh state police now drive mustangs right up your alley pam yeah i'm gonna i think i might change my job all right just kidding i don't even speed i don't know that we'd want that all right so we got the massachusetts state police contingent now let's take a
27:10listen thanks to these men and women in blue
27:43all right let's take a minute though okay we got to talk about this craft fair because you know me i made this i love the crafts what 20 years ago i'm not that crafty okay so the big craft here tomorrow tell me all about it it's at durfee well it's at durfee high school um and it's all day it's free to the public and there's tons of vendors there that you could just buy
28:05things from maybe make your own crafts put something together like youtube oh free admission i mean free admission that's great and every penny raised goes to the fall river scholarship association which has been run since the 1970s by mr jim rogers a downtown staple so please come visit the new durfee high school tomorrow what's next pauline i hear some music well i hear the boston
28:30police gaelic column pipes and drum founded in 1992 and called on to perform at cultural events and parades first in massachusetts of course but now worldwide as well every year they lead the st patrick's day parade in southie and here we have them at the 37th annual parade right here in fall river mouse
28:56okay this is the bell court castle coronation coach uh built back in 23 carat gold leaf overlay it took members of the same family three years to complete and this coach today is honoring our first responders who have gone above and beyond during covid oh and what beautiful horses cranberry knoll arabian horses this is a parade favorite every year they are an equestrian school in fairhaven look at the beauty and the
29:29detail in these costumes just amazing isn't it pam oh they're gorgeous just gorgeous yeah we're lucky to have them every year the horses i don't know it's just a chance it's kind of a chance for kids to see such magic up close and know that it's in your city so we like to promote this as a prideful event for fall river we keep it positive we keep it fun hey another group of horses
29:55so let's switch to the looking like the clydesdales over here and they are each clydesdale can weigh over 000 pounds beautiful horses they're imported from england and scotland if i got this right and i think they are also from fairhaven they're a local local crew of horses um but really they have been with us every single year they all have names which i don't want to rattle them off just
30:32like i can't even remember santa's reindeers but there they go clomping down the street 2 000 pounds each thank you so much to the halamore clydesdale horses
30:59all right community connections wow you see these vans everywhere and every time you see these vans you know that they are helpful and that they are doing assistance in our community with programs for young and old people with disabilities yep they do a wonderful job i have several friends that work for them and they love their job they love what they do they love helping people i mean the whole mission is to
31:29help folks reach the best of their ability they really are life empowering and they asked me to give a plug that they're hiring all right we got another band my alma mater case high school band director rick cadero is at the helm of this high school band from swansea the marching band have won seven times national titles in recent years can you believe that that's wonderful i don't know if it
31:53was you know round in the mid 80s because i was like third string saxophone and not too good but anyway let's take a listen to these champs i wasn't one of them
32:18look at the food
32:35ah that was worth the wait
33:02fast and furious
33:11see the back
33:36for so long
34:04merry christmas
34:20okay these are joanie's costumes and characters you just saw i guess it was winnie the pooh elmo there's another fred tv graduate that just came on board over here behind the scenes oh elmo yeah you go remember to tickle you who's the favorite i think it's a loving it that's great stuff he's right up there with elf on the shelf oh that's good stuff oh and this is the angels anonymous food pantry they do
34:57such a wonderful job over there on weaver street helping out the needy community they do a lot city cleanups they also have a food pantry meals for the elderly they were founded in 2015 and thank you angels anonymous for making such positive impact on our community and their float is santa's workshop we saw that earlier it's a great float yeah a lot of wrapping done there you got it
35:30so keep your eyes open because sometimes on the floats you'll see that um they'll have a ribbon yeah that they won okay we have the fall river pride committee coming up next right after miracle fish puppets this wizard puppet appeared at king richards fair that's where we saw the wizard they are under the direction of vinnie lovegrove and it sounds like a lot of people recognize this puppet
35:58hey if you go to kingworks it's fair all right fall river pride committee they put on a fabulous festival every june i filmed it many years in a row led by my good friend sean connell who happens to know the best beaches around yeah i always bump into them at the beach not a bad place no no all right so we got the tagalong balloon nutcracker
36:29yeah okay this senior hospital employees are from stuart healthcare and they are the ones holding this nutcracker balloon the hospital was founded by the dominican sisters in 1906.
36:453 000 physicians provide nationally recognized patient care at inpatient and outpatient facilities across our region that's beautiful and thank you to the folks who have agreed to arrive early in the morning and get a couple hours of training for these floats and here is the ever after storybook entertainment it's a character entertainment company based out of new bedford and they provide character
37:11look-alike services for birthday parties and so many other events their flow is dedicated to elsa and anna from frozen that's great have we had roller skaters before in the parade evan no i think we should try that next year ouchie that might get us some uh i don't know i don't know if that was it might be a comedy show renee's home watching this saying no not a good idea ladies but um
37:39see that's the work with grace and her fabulous team including reno over at recreation they've got to make this interesting and new every time here is the relay for life american cancer society holds their relay every year every june at bishop connelly raising tens of thousands of dollars for cancer prevention and research they will find a cure
38:25and it looks like they have some choreography coming or at least that's what we had seen earlier when we were judging the floats so i think they're getting ready now let's oh
39:03it's an emotional event at connelly every year the survivor circle the walk of memory but these folks i mean they are there for over 24 hours with constant representation on the track
39:36ah battleship cove this is the world's largest collection of military ships on display with their pt boat replica they've got a new director she actually comes from the uss arizona that's where she works from hawaii she's a young woman uh from hawaii to us you know i'm she said she wanted to make a difference on an area that needed some assistance promoting history and thank you so much so please get down to
40:13battleship cove and support all the wonderful things that happen here me before use this is through stanley street treatment and resources prevention it's the me before use campaign social marketing aimed to youth with healthy decision making they believe if you're going to beat the war on drugs it has to start with prevention and here we have bank five founded in 1800s when residents many of them mill
40:48workers and farmers could open a savings account with just five cents imagine that look at the iconic purple jeep and nichols the mascot
41:18foreign okay now we have this is nightlife entertainment the party band is a disney style marching band that's been performing for 27 years that's pretty good trombone open there huh oh we're getting into our schools now this is the carlton m vavares elementary school great school spirit from their student staff teachers of course parents with pto grace garling does a great job making sure that every school has the
41:52best representation that they can have in our annual holiday parade
42:09okay look at these kids from vavares i got a pretty good turn out there huh lots of families which is always nice to see yeah we need support all right now i think we're looking at the old colony model t club all the cars are ford models and they're absolute beauties as you can see so fun participants travel near and far for group meetings car shows and obviously parades i love these things
42:40i like the sound of them that's good stuff it always makes you laugh like an old movie you know gangster movie all right how long did it take you back then to get from the south to the north end kind of like the golf cart we were on earlier great job all right i also want to give a quick shout out to the relay for life that just went by linda pereira our city
43:14councilor has informed us that they placed first in the float competition on creativity we got the flint neighborhood association run by carlos cesa they provide a fabulous band every year let's take a listen
44:06dorothy cox chocolates just going by they're moving to our city and i'm very excited all right get out the earplugs here's oh back on dorothy all right dorothy is moving from wireham to a vacant mill on griffin street i've known dorothy and her mom and her grandparents for a long time they have candy for all holidays and now and this is the bristol county sheriff's department under the direction of sheriff thomas
44:40hodgson they're here at their mobile command unit and their canine vehicles special thanks to them for joining us as well
45:13and here we have river rocks it's an all all-volunteer painting group which leaves decorated rocks all over the area for others to find messages on the rocks are usually uplifting and they come from members of all ages the group was recently recognized as champions of peace by mayor paul paul cookin so fun to find these things um you know these women just it was during covid they felt cooped up with their kids and
45:40and said what can we do you know and they joined this rock painting movement that's been nationwide for a couple years now and they just it's been going strong here in fall river for a year but i just love finding the rocks um they might just say rock on or smile um stay with it they're encouraging
46:09let's take a look at tanzi elementary school who placed second in our float competition based on creativity oh there are a couple categories have to go with originality construction color their float will show different areas of well okay you see the trolley we had the gates of the city we had the braga everything's hand painted what a great job great job and there's your tansy tiger
46:44all right let me just say when my kids were marching with tansy yeah they didn't have a truck now we were on old-fashioned rain mommy i don't know if i want to do this again but it's a great weather today for a parade okay here are our wsar heroes happy hack leading them off our one and only am and fm radio station of greater fall river wsar went on the air in 1923.
47:17that's amazing thanks to these well-known radio personalities for delivering news sports and breaking news hi sue hi snow okay we got on the other side anybody on the other side evan let's see great job to sar i still remember their logo can read about it tomorrow watch it later tonight or listen live now okay they got it down we got joanie's characters and costumes right here and this is the roaming railroad
48:06which is a fall river holiday parade tradition they participate every single year from connecticut of course this is thomas the train if you don't get enough of thomas swing by recreation tomorrow at noon the train will be present
48:34right now we have bay state band established in 1920 take a listen
48:51there's miss massachusetts elizabeth pierre from north cambridge she's a graduate of syracuse all right good luck on the 16th elizabeth will be at mohegan sun in connecticut competing for the miss america competition elizabeth we will be watching and you got my vote rock on christmas happy holidays there's miss freetown miss freetown her pl her platform is best buddies her name is um
49:21okay not sure started her own chapter of best buddies at her high school focusing on helping kids with special needs i am really excited though to have elizabeth um representing us at mohican sun awesome awesome i mean that's miss massachusetts and here we have miss lakeville jackie o'keefe and i believe the young lady on the side of her is miss lakeville's outstanding team caitlin tavares
50:03oh the balanced learning center you know i just heard about this place it's newly opened on current road so the trained staff offers psychotherapy speech occupational therapy and they greatly assist kids who learn in a home setting balanced learning center oh the sounded light marching a sounded light fan they're out of worcester
50:46right here right
50:53thank here
51:16now we have the portsmouth high school marching band joining us they've entertained audiences in bermuda and new york and in 2013 the band performed for president barack obama
51:38that was ymca
51:58so
52:43i think he needs to go join spa sparky or or she or wally or right they all seem to like that dance good job kids love that stuff spencer bored in elementary now entering the scene
53:20i don't know it's just good clean fun for the kids it's funny to see their teachers in a different environment right and a great way for the parents to kind of meet one another if they haven't yet talk with the principal it's just community spirit yeah absolutely oh the cycling murrays this crew decided to come back at the last minute and boy were we happy they did this is a four generation pipe fife
54:05so that littlest one four years old all right let's take a listen they're funny
54:22gnome
54:35therapy company the mission is to create a cultural shift where kindness love happiness and the norm for all kids all abilities gnome is a lifestyle philosophy not just a surfing class we offer they offer scholarships to the academy for low-income families uh chris promises that no child will be left behind due to their socio-economic status you really need to take a look at what they do they um usually south shore
55:03beach yeah there's i believe beach in little compton all right the fall river war veterans council under the direction of mr william demaris senior vice commander you in looking at a section of the replica panel that we were lucky enough to unveil recently down at fall river bicentennial memorial park a very moving tribute with more than 58 000 names of lost americans in vietnam
55:32we are so blessed to have this beautiful memorial in our city mr bill demaris and his team worked tirelessly for four years to bring this wall to our city it's an 80 percent size replica wall of the one in dc
55:57oh and here are the camels camels are from dudley massachusetts records and burpee yeah okay records i wonder why they call him gruffy i know i'm glad the other one's name is records exactly i don't know which is which i can't say i personally talked to him but um i kind of ran out of time last night to call their owners and say hey what's up with records and burpee they want to give me a quote
56:25anyway we'll find out later but they're always a crowd favorite you can see right at the bottom of the screen some of our fred tv crew working with steve rice from bristol community college at frc media we're lucky enough to team up with them all right this is the recreation group under the direction of grace girling some of the students are dressed up in their karate uniforms which is one of
56:48the most popular programs at recreation they might be having their brand new van in here um i'll tell you recreation stepped up there it is yup so this van was all over the city all summer delivering meals to the kids in the summer in all the all of the parks and really filling food needs for students that required it during the summer months when we are out of school followed by that another
57:20wonderful social service agency the boys and girls club i remember being a member of the boys and girls club when peter mccarthy was there when i was five years old he was my swimming teacher and then he became my neighbor in life um but they do such a phenomenal job over there mimi's over there doing fantastic things with teens um and they have one of the oldest camps in america camp welch right in a sonic i
57:47actually was a cabin leader at camp west okay well if you went back i don't know if you'd recognize it they underwent an incredible renovation and it's just really creating summertime memories so if you can make a donation to boys and girls club to support a camper just for a week just for a week they'd appreciate it
58:14yeah so these kids a lot of them don't have the transportation so there you go these new beautiful vans drive around the kids have a meeting spot take them to the camp for the day it allows the parents that ability to work right child care is so expensive so you think about the trickle down that it's not just nurturing the child it's nurturing that entire family allowing mom and dad to
58:37get out and pay the bills it really does take a village and i think we see that in fall river all right somerset berkeley regional marching band and the blue raider marching band earned national championships in both 2015 and 2018 as well they always put out a good show
59:58all right evan who is this coming down the streets is this uh oh is this l s i think it it's a new is business on stafford road here in the city you need a quick nutritious meal on the go try their delicious healthy shakes smoothies and bakery items well there's a thought baby items that are nutritious okay we're gonna skip the granite grill just one day from derpy just one they're fabulous as well yep
1:00:33and we'll head over there granite grill had their opening um uh friday i guess thursday it was fabulous along with the beautiful salon that i cannot stop talking about over at durfee really um we invite people to get over there and see what we've got at the new durfee not only fred tv but it's amazing and we are all there often enough at the granite grill and soon to be salon as well
1:00:57that's right i mean so they're open certain times in the mornings generally like 8 15 to 11 15 give them a buzz i'm sorry i don't have the number right in front of me make an appointment for a hair they do eyebrows nails and then head over and have a very quick affordable mostly delicious lunch at the granite grill and at the greater grill they also have baked goods too now whereas in the
1:01:22past they hadn't done that for a while so very impressed with these students and and they're just the durfee community as a whole you got it all right look at this little one having a great time you know so stick around because we're going to have the tree lighting at four o'clock but we got to keep the crowds happy in between right so they look happy now well we want to
1:01:42still keep them smiling for a couple hours so stick around i can already see that the food trucks have arrived over at post office square and there'll also be some music down there give you a chance to warm up meet up with friends and then you will enjoy the tree lighting before you head home and catch sons of serendip on our channel okay this is the rotary club of fall river it's a national
1:02:13organization been raising funds for deserving non-profits and families but our fall river chapter chapter opened way back in 1920.
1:02:25and ooh i think we got this russell in the front i think we got some of them to pull our massive tag along candy castle again pauline not helium this year hot air helium shortage pants would have known i don't know you know what i say it every day get in that bubble and just say i'm going to try and be kind and who can i help you know we all get frustrated traffic
1:02:56bills whatever it is hey all right this is the corsair mascot is joined by his team members the umass dartmouth football team in november is the new england college bowl champions umd first offered football in 1987. i did not know i did not either that's kind of seems a little weak to me but as i was looking through i i double checked and said okay there's their van boss lots of changes at umass dartmouth it's
1:03:34really a good bang for your buck um i encourage people to check out the local schools that we have here here in our education hub in the south coast this is the colonial navy band now coming up of massachusetts they are living history they've performed in europe and all over the u.s let's take a listen
1:04:09okay
1:04:44and here we have citizens for citizens head start it's a federally funded free child development program for pre-school children ages 2.9 to 5 years of age who reside in income eligible families headstart encourages parent involvement and provides many opportunities for parents to become involved in their child's education and i want to remind folks that crystal arpa over at cfc it's big blue
1:05:12house on griffin street is collecting toys for the next week please bring your unwrapped brand new toys whatever you can give to crystal over at cfc on griffin street and they will go to a family in need and remember all money all toys raised stay safe that's important to folks it's nice to know that you're you're helping your neighbor oh yeah these guys are going to sleep very well tonight
1:05:39that's for sure yeah i think we will too yeah we will too this this fresh air is it's you know i we've been here where things have blown away the cameras have tilted my my tree my papers it's a great day i gotta tell you a lot of dogs here today seem to be uh getting along okay though that's good hey listen if you can walk you're pretty much welcome in this parade all right
1:06:05that's a nice thing community involvement we always love that of course we do okay so grace estimates about perhaps about 15 000 people might be lining the streets today and never mind the ones that are of course at home including my mom watching live right or watching on facebook from participating or participating or from florida wherever you're watching we thank you and remember that if you
1:06:33have been here in fall river at the parade you're going to want to watch this program again and again just to see yourself if you're in the parade we all love that yeah so channel 9 channel 18 we've been running this over and over streaming live on facebook as well fall river educational television and the same goes for tonight for sons of serendip there's a lot of stuff going on lately this weekend this week the
1:06:56weeks leading up to the holidays we've got quite a few things um as we mentioned we're going to be rebroadcasting everything don't forget about the food pantries during the season for those in need there's several of them throughout the city citizens for citizens on griffin street greater fall river community food pantry salvation army angels anonymous gates of hope um lots of them we saw in the parade
1:07:21already and then there's a lot of events coming up as well yeah middle school concerts and everything else it's a lot i want to give a shout out to alex and mike our our producers who work with us at fog river government television and friend tv they have so much to keep track of today and you know it's that technology and these guys get everything going so that it's just beautiful pictures it's beautiful
1:07:48video the sound is great so they've actually already left the parade here and have headed over to durfee to get things ready for sons of serendip leaving pauline and i in the capable hands of evan and art and gary and our durfee students from fred tv and steve rice bcc all right mr potato head this is the b1 for change be the one
1:08:25looks like it's part of the henry lawd the henry lord bulldogs that's their logo there there we go the green yep so this is the henry lord community school they are a k-8 school with older students mentoring the younger ones i like that their bulldog is the mascot along with and they're here along for the fun principal amy braunheart leads her school community with kindness and enthusiasm and i could definitely vouch
1:08:49for that amy is a great lady really cares does a phenomenal job teachers parents families alike they all adore her they sure do good turnout for them yeah i think that's amy in the back there right where is she oh yes yes yes i think i think what happens is you have an educator that is with these students and they remember oh that was my teacher first grade then maybe oh
1:09:26that was my vice president oh maybe i had this teacher at another grade and now it's a principal so when you have an educator that stays with the system or a firefighter or a police officer anyone that's within the system for a while they develop those relationships just like we develop with co-workers medical professionals professional students students okay the river trust group
1:09:54that's this banner right yup that's so it's a non-profit organization and their motto is bridging the community their charitable service helps young and old and this year's this year they've donated christmas trees to families of me yeah i follow a lot of these folks on facebook too and you know you'd think they'd post more but they really do a lot more modest yeah yeah they don't they don't need to
1:10:19get their face out there and they don't need the accolades no they just want to do it for the spirit of giving their banners don't say me me it says us the group just like this one over here studio like oh we saw them they were warming up when they went by they do a lot over there visual arts performing arts theater dance painting yoga ballroom dance fitness that's a lot under one roof all for nine
1:10:49years you got it i like this float it's got a good vibe i do too it's very colorful
1:11:09they all look like they're having a blast bringing us some warm weather vibes right right that's why they keep dancing they're not feeling the cold no they came up to us earlier hey you want us to perform okay we're about three hours early but go for it and is this the sylvia sylvia is it sylvia's school sylvia school here are the students from sylvia elementary school and this is their first time in the parade pam
1:11:41oh i like their stars they're each a stuff great job so he's a future soviet schooler like i said pauline we're open to them all come here bring a smile and you can be in our parade actually grace girling tells me that it's not too hard to even find people because they're repeats and then word of mouth spreads and they say wow what'd you do well after we did the parade we had food
1:12:14in fall river we went and finally saw the battleship um we learned more about lizzie borden all the great restaurants so it it really becomes a situation where people just want to be back every year this is president mario luciola with miss columbus and it's the fall river sons of italy and miss columbus thank you to those who have served with their italian heritage in our very ethnically diverse city
1:12:41thank you mr luciola and coming up is the sons of italy drum and bugle corps this drum and bugle core was founded 80 years ago and we're so happy that they were able to make it all the way from haverhill to be part of this event they are the only italian american drum and bugle corps in the united states cool stuff let's take a listen
1:13:25so
1:14:43great stuff
1:16:31fabulous you know what i it's all did you see it all ages all ages there that is great stuff is this toy city uh troy city towing trying to get that angle on that camera there yes north pole themed float seems to be a favorite this year these hard-working men and women from troy city towing are based out of the flint and guess what they are open 24 7. their drives are on the call
1:17:09yeah it's a tough job i mean it's that whole slow down law that started with the state troopers you know when you see an emergency vehicle you'll be fined big time if you're not slowing down for one of these guys um or girls behind the wheel bristol county agricultural high school they just underwent a massive renovation they're bringing the who to life so yeah this is who theme with the
1:17:32grinch he's chopping up the tree in the back don't look don't look i love it unless you want some mulch all right these kids from bristol aggie um really do a lot they they have small animal uh large animal a reptile amphibian all kinds of care there's a museum over there they're located in dayton and they do two fabulous fairs every year one in the spring
1:18:06and like you said earlier pam teamwork makes the dream work so this flow is actually a collaboration between us talbot and morton middle schools it's the north pole i believe i was just told they won third place they sure did they've got third place in the floats um we'll run it down again you know we judged on creativity we judged on construction so the three schools pulled their
1:18:34resources with great help from not only the teachers and instructors parents kids helped out so a big shout out to cuss talbot and more they've named this their north pole bakery definitely a colorful float oh and this is one of my favorites the njrotc program over at durfee high school they're actually actually located right across the hall from us here at fred tv they're under some new direction
1:19:11the new area is named after sergeant robert barrett and lieutenant commander derek randall and chief will squires teach the students and they teach them all about patriotism citizenship leadership these kids are great just a phenomenal program yep we're lucky to have them across the street from us okay this is an antique truck i uh i called my good buddy jay chatterton who used to be a staple in the parade last night
1:19:40i wasn't able to find out too much about that so forgive me for my shortcomings i'm gonna work on that for 2022.
1:19:55seems to be an add-on yeah that's good stuff man if that movie didn't freak you out oh no i would have loved to be in that movie hey if it's screaming i'm in all right and here we have some more walkers of all ages
1:20:22i'm not sure if that's the turnover school perhaps i'm looking for a banner or a shirt it's possible that it is letourneau school
1:20:40okay well we've got our colonial pipers bagpipe band celebrating their 50th year anniversary and they are musically inclined of all ages mentoring one another let's take a listen
1:21:45okay this is miss bristol county
1:22:03and foster a child this is through department of children and families foster parent recruitment is crucial may is national foster care month but that need of course is year-round department of children and families is recruiting caring adults to mentor and provide homes please reach out to roxanna she's at the local chapter and this is the family service association new child center and
1:22:28daycare on wilson road the center is accredited by the massachusetts department of early education and care lots of fun over there it's definitely a day the kids will remember you know it's um it's good to see people all just happy happy kind of i mean you're here for a good reason it's just a good time a great parade yeah and i gotta say the length of this parade is is quite quite amazing well
1:23:02it's 223. we're already working on it now we're in your neck of the woods pam yep so we're over at the dayton rehoboth falcon marching band and they have been recognized extensively for their inclusivity with the best buddies program let's take a listen
1:24:42hey man
1:25:08to me
1:25:35trump
1:25:55well that's kind of cool electric guitar in the band it's got a lot of kids in that band they sure do i know durfee is also doing some recruitment as well for chorus and band so if any students watching you're interested please sign up this is john j doran community school comprised of grades k-8 and hats off to their principal eric bradley they call him the doran dolphins can you figure out why all ages
1:26:34and i believe this is the new liberty jazz band and these musicians are uh welcome repeat performers every year and they travel to us from bill rick of massachusetts
1:27:21oh forever paws animal shelter i love this place uh the volunteers here are walking with some shelter dogs i believe in that little carriage they have an array of species rabbits turtles lizards birds even a rooster i think you mentioned one time i know that believe it or not gail does a great job over there my shout out to my friend gail furtado and her very vanda volunteers who really work
1:27:50around the clock to find homes and give these precious animals a second chance the slogan is of course giving the animals
1:28:03girl scouts of southeastern new england and fall river this organization of course for more than 100 years has helped diverge courage confidence and character in young females i was a girl scout many moons ago i actually spent years brown you know you climb up through the ranks okay i was a brownie what a name oh i would always think of food yeah and then i became a girl scout honestly it
1:28:32was a lot of fun i learned a lot of a lot of stuff about camping the outdoors i had some some great mentors okay we got subway now this is another place for a really quick bite to eat and a friendly smile it's subway on south main street their their new menu is changing big changes you know so more healthy i always thought subway was pretty healthy to be honest with you guys
1:28:58i'll give them a shot all right koala and sun stone wall construction in these beautiful big rigs westport based business they'll go wherever you need them for a construction job retaining retaining walls patios sidewalks decorative concrete stamped concrete and more thank you for being in our parade some gorgeous trucks i think i need to call them too oh we got fonsica elementary school here
1:29:29these kids are so cute the eagles are proud brave and they study hard the holiday parade would not be complete without the enthusiasm of all of our local schools our principals the families so we want to thank all of you for participating from all the elementary schools for the following public schools i get to tell you great turnout this year of our students i think the weather definitely contributes it of course it
1:29:53contributes um great turnout of kids oh they're all here the babies oh i love the lights in their hair students walking riding biking in a stroller whatever it takes okay this is the wooster sound and light band amazing i'm not going to talk about this but it's a 70 piece concert in this one little trailer wow
1:30:41and of course we got the bay coast bus bay coast bank is a backer of many non-profit agencies and we're so grateful to them and their team members and senior vp of sales mr nicholas crist get on the bus promotes education we've worked with bay coast bank here at fred tv to do some promotions for the services that they offer and in fact one of our former students appeared in an advertisement for bay coast bank
1:31:13actually one of our students and one of our staffers and one of i mean he literally did all of the above intern staff student we tend to keep them around right evan we don't let we don't let the talent go to waste all right gates of hope right now yeah this is a faith faith-based hunger relief organization decorated with food and of course a snowman they provide food and so much more they provide health and love
1:31:44and understanding and remember they also will provide nutrition if you're in need for the family pet dog or cat food is also available understanding the bond between animals and humans rooster animal service participating on behalf of south coast thank you for being here and thank you to our ems drivers during this very difficult time
1:32:16and i and i can hear them the pipe band we've been as a 501 c 3 non-profit instructional highland pipes and drum band out of sandwich massachusetts and i want to give a shout out to you filled fall river we just went by i believe let's take a listen to the pipeline
1:33:01so
1:33:15oh there he is whoa whoa is that thing going to fit under those lights i've never seen a crash yet we might be looking at one today remember we're seeing from a different perspective true all right so the tagalong balloon is kung fu panda and that is being handled by liberty utilities company which operates regulates water waste water natural gas electric utility so basically if you cook
1:33:58if you shower if you use light bulbs we're thanking these men and women and their utility service is available to communities small and large we see their trucks around
1:34:27all right so see we got those balloons in it happened it happened now that's pretty cool to have those balloons here you know they fly in from michigan it's good stuff um hey let's give a shout out to watson obviously i was there a little bit earlier um last week over at eastern avenue they really underwent an amazing renovation and take the city's oldest school right up into the age of high tech
1:34:58evan's waving to his buddies great school over there i love the costumes wow the princess costume i don't know anything goes here oh these are my aleppo shriners cape cod fire brigade listen listen up i think we should have gotten a ride in those no kidding we wouldn't have we wouldn't have been leaking all right so so these guys and gals go all over the area with these i i gotta watch this
1:35:54i mean i don't know what do i describe them as souped-up atvs yeah that's exactly what they are oh my gosh i'm sure there's a more technical term for it but they're right absolutely so fun they are a crowd favorite every single year so they wheel up into the back of a pickup truck and then they go down the cape they come to us here so much fun thank you and in
1:36:16doing so they raise money for charitable groups um so i'm just going to plug again that you'll be able to watch this again on fred tv and on forward for government television but oh wow we got a lot of crowds this year huh it's hard to see we're perched kind of up at government center rarely kitty corner with the tree which would be lit four o'clock right at dusk um 4 30 right at dusk
1:36:44okay and um it's got how many thousand what was it what did john perry say honda mini light seven are on it come on evan go count those legs all right so the tree weighs 4 000 pumps but um yeah we kind of had him laughing we're like how many lights are on that thing i don't know test me but yeah um i would say i'm trying to think i have
1:37:13to say something i think there may have been 5 000 right yeah fewer i would agree with that looking at the tree right now i would definitely agree with that and don't forget they have music and food trucks and some activities and stuff just fun stuff for for kids and families here at the end of this parade until the tree lighting so stick around when the parade is done we are you're not there's still more fun
1:37:38more fun to come
1:37:45what do we got here
1:38:09jdm trucking and sons founded back in 2003 a freight shipping company they'll pick it up they'll haul it they'll get the job done cross country two
1:38:25they did a great job on this float a lot of work went into that one all right if i was online if i'm on route 24 i do not want to hear that noise but right now it's kind of cool right now it's super fun and many of the wives and women took credit for decorating that float yeah and and the men were happy to oblige to say yeah you got this we hate to say
1:39:03it's women work but we but the women did come up and say uh yeah we did that i'm thinking okay showing their artistic side and wrapping it all up today is the durfee high school band god i love this kid love these kids here they're wonderful students and equally as talented durfee high school marching band is under the direction of jay treelor these musicians bleed red and black yes they do in addition to joining
1:39:31the award-winning marching band students can choose to participate in concert band and also the brand new band room is so amazing that whole wing is just incredible you've got to see it shout out to the derpy marching band
1:40:10we have a motorcycle group here i love the decor on the motorcycles
1:40:23many of these motorcycle groups ride for other charities
1:40:46oh it's good stuff
1:41:00some great footage by jake fitzgerald
1:41:20i think the exhaust pipes were hurt across the river gotta love it comes santa all right i'm told so troy city towing is giving santa's a great ride here but i'm told that he actually arrived from the north pole by by motorcycle okay that makes sense since the motorcycles are right in front there you go i don't know how i understand the helicopter i understand like the reindeer but
1:42:01it's magic it's magic it's santa it has to be bad santa welcome to fall river we are only just seeing the start of you for this weekend santa is heading over to the post office square for the party there until 4 30.
1:42:18that's about the end but we got a little bit more we got some very important information coming up right now from the traffic department laura ferreira yes so we have a very generous gift from the city of fall river it's year number 13 of the parking ticket amnesty program and all month drivers can waive their late fees or had them wiped off magically disappear in the spirit of christmas from their parking tickets
1:42:46let's take a look tis the season of giving from now until january 8th the fall river traffic department is giving you a discount through the annual ticket amnesty program all late fees will be waived if you pay off your unpaid parking tickets during this grace period you may pay your balance in person with cash money order or credit card and no appointment is necessary or for contactless payment via money order just
1:43:12call
1:43:23center 508-324-2577 no personal checks will be accepted director of traffic and parking laura ferreira wants to remind everyone that having unpaid parking tickets will prevent you from renewing your driver's license and vehicle registration be sure to take advantage of this holiday gift from the fall river traffic department
1:43:48so go see laura ferreira and her friendly staff and again this is applicable to only the late fees right those tickets a special thanks right now to the city of fall river under the direction of mayor paul coogan for providing us with the joy of this magical parade grace girling and her staff at recreation of course frc media our staff from fred tv and fall river government television the teamwork that
1:44:13we pull together is magical and sons of serendip tonight seven o'clock the tickets were gone like magically yes um so we have provided on channel nine and 18 with comcast there'll be live coverage for you to watch the concert or fall river government television on the facebook page we'll be live yes i think that wraps it up right it does and don't forget there's lots of winter concerts
1:44:37coming up for derpy for all the middle schools for some of the elementary schools so be sure to check the calendar uh for all the events happening in and around the city that's right so from our staff here at fall river government television infrared tv we thank you for watching please enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a very safe and merry holiday season