downpour<\/a> washed out several holiday events across the region Sunday, but it didn\u2019t stop one of the area\u2019s most beloved traditions: the Indian Rocks Beach Christmas Street Parade.<\/p>\n\u201cWell it\u2019s pouring down rain but that\u2019s not going to stop us. We’re out here celebrating Christmas like we do every year,\u201d Brady Morris said as his family along with about 50 other people lined East Gulf Boulevard, umbrellas tilted against the weather.<\/p>\n
Smiles beneath ponchos and rain jackets were hard to miss, even as rain fell harder than in any recent parade memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Morris family repurposed their umbrellas to collect candy, embracing what participants called one of the rainiest parades they could recall.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas it ever been like this before?\u201d 10 Tampa Bay News asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has not. This is the first time but there is a first time for everything,\u201d Morris replied.<\/p>\n
Dozens of decorated golf carts and cars rolled by, blasting music and tossing treats to children who were already soaked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the rain makes it more fun for kids,\u201d Morris said in reference to his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter alongside his wife, Ashton Morris. \u201cThere is nothing they love more than splashing in puddles. They finally get to be soaking wet and we allow them to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others shrugged off the weather entirely. \u201cIt\u2019s just water. It isn\u2019t going to hurt you,\u201d neighbor Jeannie Mele said.<\/p>\n
The soggy parade brought to mind tougher challenges still lingering from last year\u2019s hurricanes, which flooded numerous first-floor condo units in the Indian Rocks Beach community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere my condo is, all the first-floor units were flooded. As we speak, they’re still not moved in yet. That’s how much damage,\u201d Mele said. \u201cThere was a lot of trouble with permits and getting the work done. I feel for those people because they’re homeless. Fifty of them are homeless for what, 14 months now. It’s awful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, Mele, a retiree who moved down to Florida in 1988, said the holiday spirit remains resilient.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to come back and want to rebound from this,\u201d Mele said. \u201cLike I say, the spirit is strong and especially during the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many paradegoers emphasized the rain wouldn\u2019t deter them from returning next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIRB Strong. Nothing is going to keep us down,\u201d Mele said.<\/p>\n
Indian Rocks Beach residents will turn their attention next to the city\u2019s Christmas Lighted Boat Parade, scheduled to set sail at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, near the Holiday Inn Harbourside \u2014 weather permitting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rain-soaked but undeterred, Indian Rocks Beach keeps holiday parade rolling on Sunday, neighbors saying the community has weathered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-75043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}