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Horses, bands and floats proceeded along 1½ miles of Broadway on Saturday morning, accompanied by the newly crowned Santa Maria Elks Rodeo queen.
With overcast skies greeting participants and spectators at the 9 a.m. start, the clouds quickly cleared as the parade traveled south on Broadway between Mill Street and Enos Drive.
While gray skies didn’t interfere with most of the entries, the lack of visibility was responsible for a tardy descent for skydiver Kent Lane.
In all, more than 125 entries and hundreds of participants rode, walked, marched or danced along the route for the two-hour parade, held as part of the 72nd Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo.
Several entries reflected this year’s parade theme, “Reaching for New Heights — Shooting for the Sky.”
Flying U Rodeo Co.’s Cotton Rosser, a longtime provider of stock used in the rodeo, served as the parade grand marshal.
This year’s junior grand marshal was Elijah Herrick of Nipomo.
And Taylor Glines, an Orcutt Academy High School sophomore, made her first official appearance the morning after winning the title.
Crowned on Friday night during the rodeo, Taylor and her sponsor, VTC Enterprises, raised the most money — $200,870 — during the six-week campaign, rodeo officials said.
The money raised by the 2015 queen, three princesses and their sponsors pushes the grand total to nearly $11 million through the years.
The three princesses and other sponsors were Sarai Calderon, Your Orcutt Youth Organization; Taelor Janes, Santa Maria Noontimers Lions Club; and Jasmine Rodriguez, Kiwanis Club of Guadalupe.
Funds will be used for recreation and other programs benefiting Santa Maria Valley youths.
On Saturday afternoon, parade organizers announced winners of six awards:
» The Grand Sweepstakes (Best Overall Float) — County Oaks Care Center
» Grand Sweepstakes (Best Musical Unit) — Santa Maria High School Saints Band
» Exalted Ruler’s Trophy (Most Outstanding Equestrian Individual) — Santa Monica Mounted Posse
» Mayor’s Trophy (Best Community Entry) — Smith’s Alarms & Electronics
» The Bobby Acquistapace Memorial Trophy (Best Mounted Group) — Al Arenal charro group
» Chairman’s Choice (Best Youth Entry) — Santa Maria Northside Little League
After three evenings, the four-day rodeo’s final performance is a matinee, set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Santa Maria Elks/Unocal Event Center, 4040 Highway 101.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.