The city’s biggest spectacle returned to Manatee Avenue in Bradenton during Saturday’s DeSoto Grand Parade. More than 100 floats, including 92.1CTQ, lined the streets for the annual celebration put on by the DeSoto Historical Society. Maverick and Lulu and Sarah threw out 28,000 beads, gave countless hugs, and took photos with listeners who held up signs cheering them on. The grand marshal of the parade this year was Dr. Sandy Elton, a local physician who has served the Manatee community for 40 years.
The parade's two and a half mile route began near Manatee High School, at the intersection of 32nd Street and Ninth Avenue West, heading east to 39th Street West before making a loop around and back west down Manatee Avenue, which officers blocked off for most of the day in preparation.
In addition, if you made a sign for the parade, upload your photo to social media and hastag #CTQ, and you could win a pair of tickets to see Taylor Swift during her Tampa performance in the fall.