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Marching to beat of a hundred drums

By Steve Lyttle
slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

More Information

  • Carolinas' Thanksgiving Parade
  • Winners in Carrousel Pageant, parade competitions

    A number of high school seniors were selected as winners Wednesday night during the pageant and music competitions.

    Queen for 2010 is Athidi Guthikonda of Ardrey Kell High. She won a $3,000 scholarship.

    The rest of the court was Elyse Carolina Marder of Gastonia Highland School of Technology, first runner-up; Janna Katherine Wandzilak, Weddington High, second runner-up; Maddisson Elizabeth Sheppard, Hopewell High, third runner-up; and Lauren Caddick, Gastonia Forestview High, fourth runner-up.

    Each runner-up also wins a scholarship.

    Brittany Nicole Southard of Burns High in Lawndale was named York Scholarship winner; Elizabeth Davis of South Iredell High won the Community Service Award; and Lindsay Alexa Gowan of Chase High in Forest City was named Miss Congeniality.

    Wingate University awarded scholarships to pageant participants Lucia Maria Leahy of Catholic High and Hannah McDougal of Kings Mountain High.

    The Robert L. Maddox Scholarship for an outstanding musician went to Nicholas George Love of Ashe County. Other musician scholarship winners were Bryan DuBose Daniels, Myers Park High; Lauren Alexandra Turnmyre and Amanda Elizabeth Goodman, each of Ashe County High.

    And in Thursday's parade, the winning bands were East Burke High (overall and Class AAA); Providence High (Class AA); and Ashe County High (Class A).


An Ardrey Kell High School senior, a marching band from Burke County, a former Charlotte mayor and a healthy dose of sunshine were the stars of the show Thursday morning at the 63rd annual Carolinas' Thanksgiving Day Parade in the uptown area.

A thick veil of fog lifted just in time for the nearly 140 floats, bands and other units participating in a parade that drew an estimated 100,000 spectators.

The grand marshal was former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, and among the 60 high school pageant winners riding in the parade was Athidi Guthikonda of Ardrey Kell High. She was named Carrousel Queen during the pageant finals Wednesday evening and was queen of the parade Thursday.

East Burke High School won the marching band competition and will participate as Band of Honor in 2010 - a title held Thursday by last year's winner, Providence High.

The parade's panel of judges also named Drills of Hope as the top step and drill team, and the Greenville CYO Marching Corps was picked as the best step and rhythm band.

The parade and pageant are sponsored by a nonprofit organization and date to the late 1940s.

A national travel magazine last year ranked the Charlotte parade as the nation's fourth-biggest in the Thanksgiving season.

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