Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Parade 2024
About 30 units participated in the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival Parade this past Saturday, Feb. 17. Although the weather this winter has been unseasonably warm, it wasn’t for the festival. The sun was out, but it was one of the colder days of the year, especially with the wind gusts blowing snow down onto the spectators and parade units.
The parade started at the Waseca County Fairgrounds, followed 3rd Street NE and 7th Avenue NE, and eventually turned south onto State Street and traveled throughout downtown Waseca.
As one of the parade announcers explained, Waseca Sleigh and Cutter started because local farmers wanted a reason to show off their horses during the winter. After organizing a parade, more events helped the festival grow to its current size.
This year, the parade featured about a dozen units dedicated to showing off horses, most of them draft horses, according to the parade announcer. The horses shown off ranged from miniature-sized horses to mares and Clydesdales.
Janesville had some representation in the parade as all members of the Miss Janesville 2023 were carried by a horse-drawn cart throughout
Other units in the parade included the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Royalty, Minnesota representative of Minnesota 2024 Miss United States Agriculture Bailey Hodgkins, Waseca American Legion members with their fellow Auxiliary, and several Mounted Sheriff’s Posse members from Waseca and Carver counties.
With the parade out of the way, the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival is nearly wrapping up. On Saturday, Feb. 24, the fireworks display and the kite and balloon show will take place on the north side of town due to the lack of ice on Clear Lake. The fireworks will be at the high school football practice fields, while the kite and balloon show will happen on the soccer fields west of Waseca Intermediate School. After that, the Children’s Dream Catcher Annual Fundraiser will be at the Starfire Event Center at noon on March 2, with the Flags For Vets “Ruck of Hope” event on March 30 starting at Four Seasons Athletics at 9 a.m.
