The theme for this year’s Greater Northern Lehigh Halloween Parade was “fairy tales.”

Many of the participants utilized that theme portraying such characters as Cinderella, the Wizard of Oz, Prince Charming and even the lady who lived in a shoe - with very many children.

There also were scary tales. Some floats had frightening themes with ghosts and monsters. One float was chillingly entitled “Nightmare in Wonderland.”

The 115th annual Northern Lehigh parade, which marches on the main streets of Slatington and Walnutport, was filled with creativity, treats and surprises for the large turnout of spectators who lined the route on Saturday.

For those who still don’t believe Elvis is dead, you could be right, because he - or someone imitating him - rode a float singing his songs.

Speaking of believing, Santa Claus made an appearance, too.

“We had really nice entries this year. The floats showed a lot of creativity by those who spent a lot of time making them,” said Tiffany Rehrig-Schaeffer, co-chair of the Northern Lehigh Events Committee which sponsors the parade. “A lot (of the floats and costumes) are completely homemade. A lot of them were just simply outstanding this year.”

“Outstanding” is an appropriate word for the entries. It took over an hour for the parade to pass the judging stands and during that time there were more than 15 floats, three marching bands, various costumed marching groups and individuals, as well as about two dozen pieces of fire and emergency apparatus from Northern Lehigh and the surrounding area.

Rehrig-Schaeffer serves as co-chair of the Events Committee with Russell Hallman.

The winners of various adjudicated categories in the parade will be announced on Tuesday.

There were different locations for judging during the parade. First, a group of walking judges looked over the entries - especially the floats - at the start of the parade. Rehrig-Schaeffer said this is because sometimes the floats can’t be seen clearly by judges sitting at a table along the parade route under streetlights. There were two judging stands along the route, one in Slatington and one in Walnutport.

The judging tallies will be added during a meeting of the Events Committee Monday night. Judged will be small floats, large floats, small groups, large groups, individuals and - for the first time - there is a pet/animal category. The top prize is the Judge’s Award, which is given on overall points accumulated.

The parade was led by the police chiefs of Slatington and Walnutport riding next to each other in their cruisers.

This was followed by members of the Slatington American Legion Post, riding on a large military truck.

Then the fun began.

Slatington Mayor Jeralyn Schoch, dressed as Cinderella, rode in a wire, light-covered carriage pulled by two which horses. Of course, she was accompanied by “her prince.”

“I knew she wanted to do a Cinderella theme,” said Rehrig-Schaeffer. “And I knew she wanted to get hold of a carriage. She was able to get the carriage from Running Spring Farm in Spring Glen.”

Of the fairy tale theme, Rehrig-Schaeffer said, “That’s the fun of it. We try to pick a theme each year to make it interesting and fun. We try to see how they interpret the theme.”

Rehrig-Schaeffer said there were several groups making their first appearance in the Northern Lehigh parade.

Country Junction utilized a Wizard of Oz theme amid a wooden shed of wooden farm animals.

Caring Hearts used a “Queen of Hearts” and Alice in Wonderland theme.

The Allentown Fair Queen, Cameron Fink, rode on a float with life-size, plastic farm animals. Fink is a student in the Northern Lehigh School District. Her stepmother resides in Northern Lehigh and attends church in Emerald. This is the first time an Allentown Fair Queen took part in the Northern Lehigh parade.

Last year’s parade winner, Rhythm and Soul, was back this year and put on a good effort to retain the winning honors. It had a Wizard of Oz theme.

Various sports teams from Northern Lehigh were in the line of march, including field hockey plays who rode on a float with the theme “Alice in Wonderland.”

The three bands which marched in the parade were the Northern Lehigh High School Band, the Northwestern Lehigh High School Band and the Allentown Celtic United Pipes & Drums. Many members of the Northwestern Lehigh band wore costumes and had strings of lights on their musical instruments.

Spectators seemed to enjoy the variety and creativity displayed in the march.

Madeline Scorsey of Palmerton said, “How much work some of these people put into their floats and costumes! It was fun. It was spectacular.”

Rehrig-Schaeffer said, “Everything went well. We were really happy with the turnout. The weather was really, really nice for the day. We had really nice entries this year by floats and groups.”