McAlester parks crew goes viral for parade float

Adrian O'Hanlon III, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·2 min read

Dec. 15—McAlester city parks workers enjoy putting up festive decorations and taking part in the parade each Christmas season — but they didn't expect to go viral.

Robbie Patton, city of McAlester head gardener, wore a Santa beard and hat as he sat on a hay bale fashioned to look like a reindeer while a tractor moved it's front loader up and down. The tractor and other city parks crew vehicles donned festive lights for the Christmas parade in downtown McAlester last Thursday — with the bucking reindeer getting millions of views and thousands of shares on TikTok.

"We've had a lot of good reactions — we just can't believe it's been blowing up like it was," Patton said.

Cassie Walton posted a clip of the crew's float from the handle @thewaltonfamily1 on TikTok. Her post gain millions of views, more than 393,400 likes, and nearly 57,000 shares in the next few days.

Patton said he was happy to see comments from people in other states saying they enjoyed the video and wanted to check out the parade next year.

"This was one of the the best parades we ever had," Patton said. He added McAlester Area Chamber of Commerce President Krystal Bess did a wonderful job organizing the event.

McAlester's Downtown Christmas Parade had more than 75 entries — including fire departments, local officials and businesses, two teams of Clydesdale horses and more.

The parade returned with a theme of "A Country Christmas Parade" on Dec. 9 after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patton said the parks crew brainstormed ideas for the country theme and it "snowballed" from there.

"We thought 'well we're going to do a redneck country theme' because what more country can you get than redneck?" Patton said.

Patton rode the hay bale, while Cody Conner drove the tractor as part of the parks crew's parade entry. Johnny Wright painted a face for the reindeer and Patton cut it out to place it on the hay bale.

City parks workers Randy Blocks and Ronald Collins drove two other vehicles for the crew's parade entry.

McAlester Area Chamber of Commerce announced float winners for two categories.

The Clydesdales won the general overall category, followed by the McAlester Parks Department in second and Realty One in third.

Kiamichi Technology Center won the schools category, followed by Stacey's Tae Kwon Do in second and McAlester High School cheer and football in third.