La Feria HS Class of 2020 honored during citywide parade

Updated: June 4, 2020

***The La Feria High School Class of 2020 was honored during a citywide parade on May 22.*** Photos: Billy Watson / LFN

By BILLY WATSON
LFN

LA FERIA – The streets of La Feria were filled with the sounds of sirens and music, lots of honking cars, and vehicles decorated with graduation themes.

The Class of 2020 paraded in downtown La Feria on the evening of Friday, May 22, celebrating their upcoming graduation from high school.

The city of La Feria and La Feria ISD partnered together to hold the senior class parade.

“We knew that the students had missed out on a lot of their senior year,” La Feria High School Principal Cynthia Chairez said, “so we wanted to give them something memorable, and we felt that having a community parade would bring back the spirit. For us, we love our students a lot, so we wanted to do whatever we could just to make it a special event for them.”

There were over 200 vehicles involved in the parde, including a student sporting his motorcycle.

The parade route started at the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex, ran down Canal Street meeting Business 83. From there, local law enforcement led the way down the road, crossing the main light and fire department. The parade shifted south onto Parker Road into residential areas. The parade met back on Main after a right turn on East Lilac Avenue, passing the city pool and Scott Sloan Memorial Park.

From there, it was a straight drive through downtown where there was a presence of cheering residents sitting on chairs waving posters for the graduates.

Alex Yerena, a graduating senior who was the first vehicle in the parade following the fire department, said it was fun to see his classmates again and be a part of the parade.

“It was great to finally see my classmates for one of the last times,” Yerena said.

Chairez felt emotional following the parade, especially since it went well and the turnout was great.

“I could imagine for each and every one of them it brought back the memory of being at school and being around their friends, but also their fans because you had the whole community of La Feria on the streets, and I appreciate that from everyone. It was very heartfelt,” she said.

Yerena was very thankful for the support from the community, too.

“Having the community out supporting us really meant a lot, and we all appreciate it,” he said.

In addition to the parade, the La Feria High School Class of 2020 still fortunately got to graduate during a live in-person ceremony on May 29 at Lion Stadium.

Plans for a live graduation had been up in air for several weeks until the Texas Education Agency announced on May 5 that outdoor graduation ceremonies would be permitted this school year as long as specific social distancing guidelines were followed.

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