Posted by Melissa Burlaga
We're only a few days away from the 51st annual Christmas City of the North Parade.
The long lived march through downtown Duluth gives people from Minnesota, Wisconsin common ground to show off the best of their towns.
Dave Anderson profiles a Range band that keeps the crowd smiling.
"Here comes a bunch of clowns literally. Here's a longtime favorite of the Christmas City of the North Parade, the Eveleth Clown Band."
George Kessler isn't lying when he calls the Eveleth Clown Band a longtime favorite.
The group has been around since 1949.
Jayson Saumer has been a member for six years.
Of the half dozen or so parades they play every year, the Christmas City is one of their favorites.
"Going down the street is a lot of fun. We always see people dancing and singing along with the song."
Singing along may be easy for the crowd but tough for the band.
The free wheeling group doesn't practice so they've never learned the words to their Christmas City selection, "Oh Christmas Tree."
"We sing the chorus but we don't know the rest of the words so we just say la la la la."
Membership in the band is almost strictly for Eveleth residents or natives now living elsewhere.
Parades like this pull a lot of the out of town members back home for a visit.
Every now and then, a guy from Palo like Jayson can get in with a special dispensation from the head clowns.
The whole crew will be lurching down the street in this year's Christmas City Parade.
This will be your last chance to catch them before they hibernate until the spring.
"This parade wraps up the season for us. It's a fun parade and a lot of people come from out of town."
The 51st annual Christmas City of the North Parade is this Friday at 6:20 on NBC 6.
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