Capital High students build inclusive float for Helena’s Vigilante Day Parade

Olivia Lyndes saw a gap in Helena’s most visible school tradition and moved to fill it herself. Capital High’s unified students did not yet have a float in the Vigilante Day Parade, so Lyndes organized one and made sure the 102nd running of the event included students who had been missing from its lineup.

The float was built around Tizer Botanic Gardens & Arboretum in Jefferson City, a theme that gave the project a bright, local look and an easy way to draw in students. Lyndes reached out to local businesses for materials, then helped bring students together to build and decorate the float. The project fit Capital High’s mission statement, which emphasizes equal opportunity for all students in a diverse and changing society.

For the students involved, the float was about more than decoration. Brett Palmerton said he was eager to ride on it. Willow Young said the flowers and decorations stood out to her, and Dallas Dixon said Lyndes brings the group together like family. Those details made the float feel less like a one-day entry and more like a sign of belonging for students who are often left out of the biggest public moments.

The Vigilante Day Parade has deep roots in Helena. Local history places its start in 1924, after meetings between students and administrators, when the idea took shape as a grand pageant of historical floats built around student creativity. Helena High says the 2026 parade was the 102nd Vigilante Parade and began at high noon in downtown Helena, at The Gulch, 330 N Jackson St.

The scale of the parade showed why Lyndes’ effort mattered. In 2025, 104 student-made floats crafted by 953 students rolled down Last Chance Gulch and drew large crowds. Helena Public Schools and community donations help support parade prizes and supplies, keeping the event rooted in local participation rather than outside spectacle.

With KTVH streaming the parade on its Facebook page, Capital High’s unified students were seen as part of the city’s oldest high school tradition, not set apart from it. In a parade built on school pride and public visibility, Lyndes’ float made a clear statement: Helena’s traditions are strongest when more students can see themselves in them.