Candy, clowns and all things wood were just a few highlights of the Hoquiam Elks Parade in downtown Hoquiam marking 2016 Loggers Playday. There were more than 100 entrants during the event that lasted more than two hours.

The Playday Court of Queen Madisen Davis and Princesses Maddie Wood, Kiona Rivera and Yacci Pineda as well as the Hoquiam High School marching band and cheerleading squad drew wild cheers. But many other entrants brought smiles to the crowd. Other royalty came from such locations as the Quinault Indian Nation, Grays Harbor County, Sequim and McCleary. Each group rode in interesting floats or vehicles.

Parade watchers showed equal amounts of love and appreciation to a flatbed exhibit carrying toy forestry equipment; tiny cheerleaders doing their best to stay in sync; pirates from Ocean Shores gleefully — and repeatedly — setting off a loud cannon; and, a dog handler with search and rescue considerate enough to pick up droppings that came out of her highly trained life-saving animal.

During a serious moment, most people in the crowd stopped talking and stood up straight when a group of loved ones and surrogates held up posters with pictures of military members who died in battle.

An accident occurred along the route. Both a woman, Kathy Allread, and a small child she held in her arms fell off of a hay bale in the bed of a pickup truck when the truck made a sudden move. The parade was halted as an ambulance transported the pair to Grays Harbor Community Hospital. Allread explained on Facebook they were both OK and that “I just gotta take it easy for (a) couple of days.”