Parade of Lights

Damon Van Dalen, has been driving a 1965 Plymouth Valiant since he attended Swansea High School. It was dark brown back then. "We had different names for it," jokes Van Dalen, about the car’s original color.

Like thousands of others on 12th St. on Saturday night, he's here for the Cayce/West Columbia parade of lights, typically a yearly tradition, but cancelled the previous three straight years due to the pandemic or weather.

Dalen, a mechanic who also races the purple Valiant, has been a participant in the parade for about eight years. He does it to market his business, Wilson Equipment and Outdoor. “To show what you can and can't do.”

In true Midlands fashion, the back end of the parade got stuck behind a train.