Tamaqua's Annual Halloween Parade is eagerly anticipated by local residents, but this year's edition also gained some international fans.

Tony and Diane Peach, of Knottingham, England, served as two of the judges for this year's strut down Broad Street. The Peaches are in the United States visiting their friends, Stephen and Christianne Bayer, who are members of the Lions Club."This was just fabulous," said Diane Peach. "We don't have this at home. It's very exciting."The Peaches were also impressed by how the entire community comes together to coordinate the event.Another first time parade viewer was Nancy Burke, of Colchester, Vt. Burke was a guest of another parade volunteer, Maureen Donovan."It is so nice to see a community like this," said Burke, who is originally from Pennsylvania. "When I was growing up, our town used to have this, but it died away," she said. "You are very fortunate to have this."Tamaqua's 46th Halloween Parade was one of the biggest so far, consisting of approximately 75 entries and several hundred participants, including local businesses, civic organizations, youth groups, and churches."We had a lot of great floats this year, it was a tough decision to make," said Christianne Bayer, one of the judges."From the Lions' perspective, we had more people come out, a bigger parade. Just seeing everyone in the spirit of Halloween. We couldn't be happier," said Stephen Bayer.Bayer also credited co-emcees, Kerry Dowd, from WMGH and state Rep. Jerry Knowles for their enthusiasm and adding to the festive atmosphere."They've got lots of ideas on how to make it even better next year," he added.The winner of the Overall Best in Show award was the Tamaqua Animal Rescue Group's "Happy Howl-ween." Capturing the prize in the non-motorized division were the Tamaqua Knee-hi Cheerleaders. Spare Time Bowling placed second and the Number 9 Mine Zombie DJ entry placed third.In the motorized division, Transwestern Polymer's New Orleans Funeral earned the top spot, followed by TAYSA U8 East Penn Service team's Pirate Ship, and LCCC's rolling band show, Ricky and the Ricardos.A special recognition award was given to the friends and family who entered a float as a tribute to Nick Zeigler, a young man from Tamaqua who was killed in an automobile accident earlier this year.Bayer thanked the Tamaqua Fire Police, the Tamaqua Wireless Association and the Tamaqua Chamber of Commerce and countless other groups and individuals who all worked together to pull of this year's event.