HELENA – Crowds gathered in downtown Helena Saturday afternoon to celebrate the Last Chance Stampede and Fair with the annual Stampede Parade.
Many people lined up along Last Chance Gulch to watch the parade roll by. They saw entries ranging from dancers and singers to classic cars to horse-drawn carriages and wagons.
Darci Baker was visiting from Glendive. She watched the parade with her two children, her sister and her mother.
“We like the horses the best,” she said.
Kristen Martin said she missed last year’s parade while she was pregnant. This year, she took the opportunity to bring her daughter Oriana, now nine months old.
“This is her first time, obviously,” she said. “We like coming out and seeing the horses.”
The Stampede Parade has been a tradition for more than 50 years. Organizer Karen English said they had about 30 entries in this year’s parade. She said they will be looking for more for next year.
Judges selected three entries for top prizes:
First Place: Grandstreet Theatre, with performers from its upcoming show Newsies
Second Place: Montana Living History Program, with frontier-era dance hall reenactors
Third Place: Northwest WILD Cheer and Dance Academy, with its Capital City Jammers team
