PIERCETON — If the rest of the 2018 Pierceton Days Festival goes as well as the parade, Pierceton is the place to be this weekend. The parade, with its “Welcome to the Jungle” theme, started at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 3, and lasted roughly 45 minutes. Included were schools, churches, businesses, civic groups and more from all over Kosciusko, Whitley and surrounding counties.

“They do a really good job,” said Ron Bashore of Warsaw. Like many along the parade route, which started at the new Pierceton Elementary School on SR 13, Bashore was there to see family members, nicely illustrating the community participation inspired by the event: Bashore’s daughter, Kylee Baker is a first responder in the Sydney-Jackson Volunteer Fire Department, and his oldest grandson, Vincent Warner, is active in the Whitko archery program, which also had a float.

“It’s a family thing,” Bashore added, not a bad description of the parade itself.

Meanwhile, Brielle Patterson of Pierceton was gleefully collecting candy thrown from the passing floats and vehicles under the watchful eye of her grandmother, Tina James. “It’s her first parade of the year,” said James.

When asked what her favorite part of the parade was, Brielle breathlessly exclaimed, “All of it!” She also enjoyed the “things with the big jungle places on them,” an apt description for the elaborately decorated floats whose owners fully embraced the jungle-theme.