By LISA HOOVER

CANTON -- The annual St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess parade and festival will be held Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 this year, with vendors setting up Friday evening.

Highlights of the festival will include a car show, block dance, Big Wheels race, parade and fireworks.

A car show will be set up downtown Friday evening, covering the area from Park Street to Pine Street, Hill said.

Another favorite of the festival, the Big Wheels race, will begin at 6 p.m. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m., with a $1 entry fee. The race typically attracts “70 to 90 kids, on average,” Hill said. “It’s a Canton tradition.”

Due to the number of participants the races usually take “a couple of hours,” according to Hill. Kids ages four to six are eligible to sign up.

The block dance and car show will begin at 6 p.m., with a band to play from 7 to 10 p.m.

The festival itself will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with dairy displays, a cakewalk, crafts, a chicken barbeque and concession stands.

The parade theme will be “Milk-y Way,” according to Canton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sally Hill.

Floats and marchers don’t need to match the theme to participate, but to be judged in the contest participants must highlight the Milk-y Way theme, Hill said.

Participating in the parade is free, and any person or group from St. Lawrence County can sign up. “We love to have people from out of town,” Hill said.

Due to the recent changes to traffic flow downtown, the route will be “interesting” this year, she said. The parade will traverse Chapel Street as usual, continuing onto Riverside Drive. The parade will run down the left lane, with traffic diverted to the right on Riverside, Hill said. Cutting traffic off entirely would “be a nightmare,” she said.

The chamber and the Canton police department are asking that people enjoy the parade from the sidewalk, not their vehicles this year. The police will be placing no parking signs on Riverside Drive, according to Hill.

Parade goers are welcome to arrive at 10 a.m. to finish a float on site. Floats must arrive at the H.B. Smith parking lot by 11:45 a.m. to participate. Contest judging will begin at noon.

The festival will wrap up with fireworks at dusk at the Canton high school, Hill said.

Vendor spaces are still available, according to Hill. Booths will be $75 per day for food vendors and $30 for crafters or other vendors. Information booths will be $10.

For more information or to reserve a booth contact the chamber at 386-8255. To enter a car in the car show contact Jim Rose at Boyden Brook Body Works at 379-9853.