Celebrating its 107th year, the Northern Lehigh Halloween Parade marched, rolled and otherwise made its way from its start in Slatington to its conclusion in Walnutport on Saturday evening.

Begun in 1907, and formerly called the Slatington Halloween Parade, it may be the oldest continuously run Halloween parade in the United States.Thousands of spectators lined the streets in both boroughs to watch floats and marchers make their way down Main Street in Slatington, across the Lehigh River bridge and into Walnutport to the Walnutport Playground Association pavilion.Three divisions of participants took part in this year's "Comic Books" themed event.The lineup's 49 separate entries included, as always, the Northern Lehigh High School Band, Northern Lehigh Cheerleaders, local athletic teams, area Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, police departments, fire departments, and local civic, social, political and religious organizations. Plus, it included quite a few business and individual entries and some first-time participants."We had a lot of new entries this year," said Northern Lehigh Events Committee Halloween Parade Chairperson Laura Stauffer. "One of the big ones that comes to mind is the Northern Lehigh Little Theatre group, at least while I've been around ... (plus,) the Allentown Fair was here this year with their queen ... another competitive cheerleading squad. There were a bunch of different groups. It was nice to see."She said the weather was much warmer than at last year's parade.Most spectators were wearing only light jackets and sweaters, including many-times attendee Rebecca Hess of Slatington, who said she was there to watch her son march with the Northern Lehigh Youth Athletic Association, football division."It's always fun, especially for the kids, to come out and see the parade," she said. "I (particularly) like to watch the floats go by.""It's nice," agreed Brandon Lloyd, of Slatington, who said he also enjoys the parade each year. "I like when they have the little kids, how they're dressed ... I think it's cute."There seemed to be more children involved in this year's parade than in the past few, according to five-year parade judge Steve Havighurst."There were more groups of little kids this year ... flatbeds full of them," he said.Fire companies from Emerald, Friedens, Laury's Station, Lehigh Township, Slatedale and Slatington participated.Prizes for the parade were awarded for various categories.Stauffer said she will be posting the parade winners later this week at nlhalloweenparade.com.She also took time to thank the eight volunteers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 375, who she said helped the parade participants line up, watched over things throughout the parade and, at its conclusion, served participants hot dogs and drinks at the pavilion. She said volunteerism is otherwise down from years past."Without the IBEW, we would never be able to hold the Slatington/Walnutport parade," agreed her husband, Scott Stauffer, an IBEW general foreman who was instrumental in getting these volunteers to come help.When asked why she chose the parade as part of her community service project, IBEW electrician apprentice Amanda Vanbegrift, a Walnutport native, said, "It seemed like fun."And fun the parade was for other folks as well, including 94-year-old Stewart Sell, formerly of New Tripoli, who was originally in the parade 75 years ago as part of a local league's championship baseball team.He rode with his son, Lee Sell, of Fogelsville, on a three-wheeled motorcycle alongside Lee's close friend Barbara Moyer, also of Fogelsville, who rode a Can-Am Spyder.Moyer said Stewart had told them he wanted to ride in the parade, so they made the arrangements to do so.When asked what his father said at the end of the night, Lee said he simply commented, "That was a good run!"