From Don Covington

300h, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Tradition’s end may be tall order for performer Rick Cobban will be grand marshal sans stilts in Quincy’s parade. This year will be much like the last 25 for Rick Cobban, who will don a funny costume and march in the Quincy Christmas Parade on Sunday. But one key component will be missing from his Elvis getup: a pair of 7-foot stilts. Cobban has decided to hang up his stilts after a quarter century of walking the 3-mile route along Hancock Street as the man who towers over the procession of marching bands, floats, and Clydesdales. Instead, he’ll participate in the parade by waving to the crowd from a float as the grand marshal. “I said to people, ‘Who’s going to know who I am? If you’re not the guy on stilts, who cares?’ ’’ he quipped before acknowledging he was touched that the parade committee made him the event’s presiding dignitary. “I just turned 60, and I figured it’s time to stop doing it. You never know what the weather’s going to look like, and for a stilt walker, it can be a little treacherous.’’