Here's the deal behind that viral parade of dancing children's characters

What is really going on here?

By now, you've almost certainly seen the video of one extraordinarily lit Christmas parade featuring children's characters pulling some fantastic dance moves.

From Twitter to The Shade Room, footage of these hype kid's favorites has gone super-viral, and reactions to the party have been extremely mixed.

The video was taken at the Scotland County Christmas Parade in Laurinberg, North Carolina, where the characters danced down Main Street to energize the local crowd.

The dancers are from company TandL-Characters, who provide their spirited performers for a range of celebratory events.

"We perform skits and dance because no one wants to go to a party [where] the characters only wave and take pictures," the company's founder, Lavonda McLaughlin, told Mashable, "Our skits and music pieces are part of the company."

While some viewers sounded off about finding the dancing inappropriate in the comments section of an article in The Laurinburg Exchange, McLaughlin defends her company's approach.

"Children love to dance - especially to the top songs that are played on the radio," she continued. "There is nothing wrong with clean fun."

Negative comments on the original video also prompted its poster (and hilarious commentator) to post this:

Upon receiving negative comments, "The kids [who work for the company] were not happy," McLaughlin said. "We have never had any negativity until we did the parade in Laurinburg, North Carolina."

"We are a family business," McLaughlin explained, revealing she runs the company with husband, Travis. "We started because [our son] liked to dance, and he was good at it."

Along with McLaughlin's own three children, the company consists of kids from Durham and Laurinburg, North Carolina, who are all close friends.

"Our team loves to dance and is very talented," she explained, "They don't just see it as a job, they love entertaining and dancing too."

Here is the company's own video of the event:

Honestly, we think this Christmas parade looks fun AF. (Go Minnie!)

Mashable Potato

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