Troy Vesely was one tired cookie. After running and running as fast as he could through the streets of Lincoln late Saturday morning, he was ready to shed his gingerbread man costume.

"It was very tiring,” the Lincoln Benefit Life employee said as he stepped out of the inflatable costume outside The Cornhusker at the end of the 22nd annual Star City Holiday Parade. “It was rewarding, though, just being part of a Lincoln tradition.”

Many of the 52 entries in Saturday’s parade were first-timers, said Deb Johnson, executive director of the Updowntowners.

“We were pleased at 22 years to see so much interest and growth,” she said.

And this year marked the first time a band led the parade. The honor went to the Deshler Marching Band, which last year was the was the only band to march in the parade, which took place on a blustery day with falling snow and temperatures in the teens.

This year, the parade’s theme  was “Making Spirits Bright.”

“And Deshler was the group last year that made our spirits bright,” Johnson said.

There wasn’t any snow this year, and it wasn’t quite as cold.

The temperature was 24 degrees at 11 a.m. and 26 at noon, with a north wind blowing at 15 to 20 mph, said Becky Griffis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley.

Johnson didn’t have specific numbers, but said she sensed this year’s attendance was lower than the average of 85,000 people.

It’s possible that many people who might have come to see the parade went to Kansas City to watch Nebraska play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game Saturday night, Johnson said.

“The kind of people who’d go to a game and sit outside are the same kind of people who’d go to a parade and sit outside,” she said.

Lincoln’s annual parade has become the day many local families begin other holiday traditions, such as putting up their Christmas trees, after taking in the parade and all of its festivities, Johnson said.

“The parade still kicks off the holiday season for people in the community,” she said.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com