Aaron Antrim customarily views Bluffton from several hundred feet in the air.

On Saturday, he’ll see it from ground level.

Antrim is this year’s Blaze of Lights parade marshal. He is also the lead pilot for Mercy Life Flight 3, based at the Bluffton Airport.

As parade marshal, Antrim will ride in one of the lead vehicles in Saturday’s 5 p.m. Blaze parade. The 1998 Bluffton University graduate is married to Bluffton native Rachel Hilty, a 1996 Bluffton High School grad. The couple lives on Grismore Road with their three sons, Asher, Eden and Levi.

As a Life Flight pilot, Antrim says the Bluffton-based crew has an average of 14 flights a week. These cover a wide swatch of northwestern Ohio from Toledo to Columbus and Dayton.

“Most flights take persons with medical needs to either St. Vincent’s Hospital in Toledo or St. Rita’s Medical Center, Lima,” he said.

As lead pilot, each time the Bluffton Life Flight helicopter responds to a call it also carries a nurse and paramedic.

Fairy Parkins, Blaze Switch Hitter
Fairy Parkins, classmate of Elaine Ream – daughter of Harry and Dorothy Ream – will turn on this year’s lights on the Ream Holiday Folk Art Display on the Bluffton Presbyterian Church lawn.

She’ll ride in one of the parade’s lead vehicles. And she’ll hit the switch at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Fairy has probably witnessed more Ream Christmas as any non-Ream family member.

As a classmate of Elaine, she often stayed overnight at the Ream farmhouse in rural Jenera. She and Elaine would sit up and watch cars that drove by the Ream house to look at the Christmas display. The car count often reached over 100.

Fairy, a Bluffton fixture, was postmistress at Benton Ridge for over 40 years.  She is a member of the SHANNON Service Club, Bluffton Senior Citizens Association, Bluffton Hospital Auxiliary, Rawson Eastern Star and Poinsettia Club.

She has volunteers at the senior center, for her church, Trinity United Methodist and at Mennonite Memorial Home.

This year’s parade
Junior Weihrauch, Blaze parade director, is expecting 100 or more units in this year’s parade.

He said that units not already registered may still show up on Saturday afternoon by 4 p.m., on Snider Road. The parade starts at 5 p.m. and travels south on Main Street to College where it turns east on College Avenue.