A sure sign that the yuletide season will soon be here is the Mount Airy Christmas Parade, which is set to roll through downtown Mount Airy on Nov. 27.
James Easter has been chosen as grand marshal for the event that officially kicks off the Christmas season locally. Easter is a longtime local businessman who operates a music store on North Main Street and also is known as a member of The Easter Brothers, a popular bluegrass gospel group.
In 2020, COVID-19 resulted in a limited drive-through parade in Mount Airy with no floats or other units involved, but this year organizers are set to return to a traditional format.
However, one key difference between the 2021 event scheduled for Nov. 27 and parades of years past will involve its timing.
“It’ll be a nighttime parade,” President Phil Marsh of the Downtown Business Association, which spearheads the event, said Tuesday. “We’ll be leaving Veterans (Memorial) Park at 5 p.m.,” with the procession expected to reach the central business district about 30 minutes later.
The evening parade concept was first tried in 2019, with organizers explaining then that this represented a desire “to try something new.” No one could remember the last time a nighttime parade had occurred in Mount Airy, if ever, with the annual events typically held on the first Saturday morning after Thanksgiving.
And the late-day idea stuck after being tried in 2019. “Everybody liked that,” Marsh recalled regarding the change.
“A lot of people wanted to start doing a nighttime parade,” he said of downtown merchants and others, “and there was a huge turnout.”
One reason evening parades are popular is that floats can be adorned with lights which show up better in the dark and create a more visual experience that unlit decorations.
“It really makes it more like Christmas to do it at night,” Marsh observed.
About 35 entries have been lined up so far for the upcoming event, with more expected.
A parade application and rules are available at http://www.mountairydowntown.org/christmas-parade.html
Applications can be mailed to the Downtown Business Association, P.O. Box 535, Mount Airy, NC, 27030. Applications also can be dropped off at Mount Airy Visitor Center, 200 N. Main St. downtown.
The parade typically features floats sponsored by businesses, clubs, churches and other organizations, including one manned by Santa Claus; local high school bands; costumed characters; public safety vehicles; local dignitaries; unusual vehicles; and other entries.
About 100 were involved in the last regular parade in 2019.
A rain date of Nov. 28, a Sunday, has been set for the event, also to originate from Veterans Memorial Park at 5 p.m.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com