Crowds lined the streets and St. Joseph and Benton Harbor with sunny skies and better-than-predicted weather for the 2013 Grand Floral Parade held Saturday.

The two-hour parade included the Indianapolis Motorcycle Drill Team, clowns, fire engines and bands from area schools, including Niles, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg, St. Joseph, Lakeshore and Benton Harbor, whose performance was a crowd-pleaser.

The most colorful entries included floats with royalty.  All winners built floats surrounding the Blossomtime theme “A Ticket to the Movies.”  Awards included:

– Parade Committee’s Award: #34 Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce — “Up”

– Sweepstakes Award: #71 Southwest Michigan Royalty — “Polar Express”

– President’s Award: #104 Bridgman -— “King Kong”

– Mayor’s Award: #99 Berrien Springs — “Robin Hood”

– Queen’s Award: #83 New Buffalo — Alice in Wonderland

– King’s Award: #71 Southwest Michigan Royalty — “Polar Express”

– Twin Cities’ Award: #122  St. Joseph — “My Fair Lady”

– Chairman’s Award:#62 Eau Claire — “A League of Their Own”

– Board of Director’s Award:  #122 St. Joseph — “My Fair Lady”

Dowagiac Daily News