From the President’s Desk (October 2025)

It’s Christmas Parade Time…Some Good Reminders!

As the air starts to cool, one of our General Manager Debra’s favorite events is upon us! It is Christmas Parade season!! Applications will be out soon and we encourage you to get them in quickly this year. Due to space restrictions, there is a limited amount of slots available so please don’t delay. Also, due to this limitation, you will also be limited to ONE VEHICLE PER ORGANIZATION/BUSINESS. Another important reminder that goes for many chamber programs and spaces is TO BE DENIED, YOU MUST FIRST FULLY APPLY. Incomplete applications will not be considered and the last thing we want is your baby and their 50 best friends dressed like elves to be turned away because you forgot to turn in your drivers license or proof of insurance (Both required).

On a safety note, you will see the same requirement of HANDING candy out only. Unfortunately, every year we see unnecessary deaths in our country of kids running under vehicles chasing candy at a parade. We want our event to be incident free and this is also an insurance requirement that we will follow and enforce. You will also
notice many new barriers (fancy cattle gates) downtown to keep the herd from pushing into the streets. We hate doing this but our insurance has reviewed past parade video and noticed individuals pushing into the streets so far that floats had to stop to maintain a safe environment. With our overhead sidewalks, we are a parade watchers paradise (T shirts available) so please stay out of the street unless you are participating in the parade.

The theme of this year’s parade is County Christmas so we hope our participants will gear their entries toward this theme. I expect to see a handful of Coats of Many Colors this year! The main thing I tell every entrant is to imagine you are 6 years old again…..would a child want to see your entry going down the street? Are you decorated, entertaining, following the theme, a willing and fun participant, is your vehicle interesting? This is your brief opportunity to make a business impact and statement to around 15,000 people and where else can you do that for $100!