“Oh, right here! Over here!” echoed throughout the crowds Saturday as people, hoping to catch candy from passing floats, lined the street for the 18th annual Veishea parade.

With highs nearing 80 degrees, the parade drew a large crowd, although estimates weren’t available, said Kyle Chestnut, Veishea parade co-chairman.

Parade entries varied among traditional floats, nontraditional floats, balloons, pep bands and various businesses and student organizations.

Dressed in bright colors and armed with their trusty lawn chairs, the Barker Lawn Chair Brigade maintained their traditional drill team.

Dances performed included

the Hokey Pokey, London Bridge is Falling Down and The Limbo.

Traditional floats brought dragons, forest animals and a winter wonderland to life.

An enormous Dalmatian, Alvin of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” fame and Rocky from “Rocky and Bullwinkle” flew along the parade route as large, Macy’s parade-type helium balloons.

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile aroused loud cheers, causing a scramble along the street as riders threw out wiener whistles to the crowd.

“We were very pleased with both the number of entries and the size of the crowd,” Chestnut said.

Mary Hillman, ISU alumna from Grand Junction, was one of many who brought the whole family to the parade. Hillman has attended the parade almost every year since 1972, when she was a student at Iowa State.

“Back then, it was more of a celebration of the colleges,” she said.

“It wasn’t about all the partying, it was about the school.”

This year, Hillman wanted to bring her grandson, Bo, to the parade and visit her daughter, Becci, who is a sophomore in exercise and sport science.

“We’ve brought [Becci] to the parade since she was Bo’s age,” Hillman said. “We don’t usually miss the parade.”

There were also many students who were experiencing the parade for the first time.

Carolyn Worth, freshman in engineering; Liz Miller, freshman in pre-biological/pre-medical illustration; Katrina Asjes, freshman in pre-architecture; and Kristie Mormann, sophomore in pre-architecture, all said they really enjoyed their first Veishea parade.

“I really liked the dragon float — that one was pretty cool,” Worth said.

For those who weren’t able to attend the parade in person, it was televised on KDSM, Channel 17 (cable channel 6).

“We are very thankful GSB gave us the money [for the parade to be televised],” Chestnut said. “KDSM had a great time.”