Story by Sharon Dominguez; Photos by Sharon Dominguez and Fran Gurule
The Annual Corrales Starlight parade was on Saturday, December 2nd, 2023. This year it seemed quite early in the month, but it is always on the first Saturday of December!
This year we had a very small group of Model T’s (4 to be exact) and a couple of Model A’s (who are also Tin Lizzie members) joined us as well for the parade. We gathered at our wonderful hosts home (Larry and Lorna Azevedo) at 4 pm to decorate the cars before leaving to line up for the parade at 4:45 pm. The cars arrived at the staging area and waited for the parade to start. I missed riding in our car this year because when I went to pick up the food for the dinner, some of it was not ready. At 5:30 pm the parade started and the Tin Lizzies were one of the first groups out. As they drove down the parade route they wished the parade viewers a “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” to be met with similar greetings and applause.
Larry and Lorna Azevedo in their 1912 Touring with passengers Fran Gurule and Vern and Pat Willan; Dave Ferro in his 1918 Depot Hack with passengers; Mark Dominguez in his 1925 Tudor with passenger John Criswell and Tim O’Brien in his 1923 Firetruck.
After the parade the cars and passengers returned to the “Big Barn” for the Holiday Party. This year was a small turnout due to several couples being out of town, and a few more feeling under the weather. 25 Tin Lizzies enjoyed traditional New Mexican dishes for dinner. The club provided the Green Chile Chicken and Red Chile Cheese enchiladas. Everyone attending brought something to add to the dinner. We had tacos, tamales, beans, Spanish rice, tortillas, chips and dips, Posole, cookies, cheesecake, cobbler. We even had apple cider!
After we all ate to our hearts content, outgoing President Mark Dominguez gave the “Oath of Office” to the new officers – Larry Azevedo-President, Jessica Lance-VP, Fran Gurule-Secretary, Marilyn Duncan-Treasurer (not present) and board of directors – Jeff Richards, Dave Ferro and Stan Gauna. President Mark gave out Certificates of Achievement to the officers and board of directors. Mark had announced at the November meeting that the 2023 President’s Award would be going to Mark Wing since he knew Mark would be traveling and would not be at this event.
We were entertained by Janice Gauna who led a game of “The NOT so Newlywed” game. Three couples participated in the game – Larry & Lorna Azevedo, Vern & Pat Willan and Phil & Jessica Lance. They learned a little bit more about each other, and the rest of us got a good laugh at some of the answers that were provided. In the end, Larry & Lorna ended up with the most matched answers.
The night came to a close around 8 pm. We all helped clean up and headed home. Congratulations to the 2024 Officers and Board of Directors. We look forward to a fantastic year in 2024.
