I love to participate in the Downtown Minneapolis Holidazzle parade - a group of lit-up-fairy tale floats and characters that travel North on the Nicollet Mall, from 12th to 4th Streets, most nights between Thanksgiving Friday and December 23rd. Only the harshest weather will halt the entourage.

I don my costume and climb atop my float. The costumes are fairly warm, but here is always some exposed flesh, and usually a strong gust of wind. The crowds are sparse on the streets during the chilly nights. Then, the light turns green, and we cross 8th Street. I look up, and, there, in the Skyway crossing Nicollet Mall, is a throng of fans, excitedly watching the parade pass beneath their feet. I am mesmerized by their faces and the enormity of the crowd. Little children in strollers command the coveted spots in the front, along with older children whose noses are pressed against the glass. The music of the float is in their heads as their whoops and cheers are in mine as our eyes connect. I see their eyes light up and big smiles cross their faces. I give a huge wave to encompass every one of them. They, almost in unison, wave back. Then, the moment is gone, and I move on, up the Mall, past another sporadic outdoor crowd, while they, coatless, in their warm enclosed glass, wait for another float to catch their view.

When my parade segment is over, I dash for the warmth, hoping that some day soon my nose and hands will thaw out. The skyway watchers, on the other hand, will zip their jackets only halfway, and tread ever so lightly from the warm skyway to the warm connected building, to their warm cars, pleased with the ease of watching a winter parade.

Aren't the skyways wonderful!! And, to think, they were created right here….