MONROE - Some morning rain and temperatures in the low 50s didn't dampen the excitement of the crowd or the participants in the Swiss Colony Cheese Days Parade Sunday.

People who took part in the parade lined up early, and floats were put in place, to make sure everything was ready when the caravan through downtown Monroe started at about 12:30 p.m. at the Green County Fairgrounds.

The 3-hour parade had almost 140 entries, including marching bands, floats, clowns, dogs, children and even a few people on stilts, who made their way from the fairgrounds, around the south side of the Square and back to the fairgrounds.

The parade brought Sue Balsiger, Rockford, Ill., to Monroe Sunday. She marched in the parade with the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of South East Wisconsin. She's been to Cheese Days before, but this was the first year she marched in the parade.

"You can't beat the parade," she said. "I worried for three days that we'd get a lot of rain today."

Clayton Hale, 10, and Jace Morris, 11, both from Juda, were part of the Maple Leaf Cheese float. Hale has been in the parade before and said it is his favorite part of Cheese Days.

The parade was a new experience for Morris and he looked forward to it.

People lined up early - many of them wearing jackets and carrying umbrellas - as a light rain started and stopped throughout the morning before ending in time for the parade. The parade route was crowded with people who weren't going to let a little rain spoil their day.

Another big attraction downtown, the cheese tent, was full during the parade as people lined up to sample cheese from area cheesemakers. Cheesemakers provided products for people to sample and had cheese available to purchase.