Newspaper Page Text
J. MICHAEL WHARTON/ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY DAVID SCHICK
W ith Christmas right around the corner, another Parade of
Lights will soon be making its way through the streets
of downtown Athens, drawing crowds of spectators that
can rival University of Georgia home football games.
Athens-Clarke County's annual downtown festivity has been
a staple of the community for decades. It's always been held
on the Thursday after Thanksgiving and carries a Christmas
theme. This year's theme is "The Sounds of Christmas."
Robin Stevens, community outreach coordinator for the ACC
Leisure Services Department, says there will be more than 40
floats in the parade this year in addition to the other entrants.
She adds that as long as hopeful participants meet the dead
line???which was last Friday???and criteria, they are allowed in.
"However, for the last two years the parade has exceeded
the ideal number of entrants, which is closer to 65-70,"
Stevens says. "If this continues, we may start having to
decline entries. We try to keep the parade to an hour, and the
route itself is just under a mile. When we get to the size that
we are this year, we likely will push the limits both on time
and distance. "
According to Stevens, there will be 21 performing units, five
marching bands, 48 float entries and as many as five special
entries, which will include Santa. "More than 1,500 people will
be in the parade itself this year," Stevens says.
Flagpoie looked into the history of when the parade started,
but ACC's institutional memory goes back only so far. "It's been
going on as long as I can remember," says Jean Spratlin, the
clerk of commission for four decades. Many other long-time
parade-goers echo her memory.
Retired ACC employee Don Oliver???who was in charge of the
parade for 25 years before leaving in 1999???says that a private
citizen used to run it prior to him, but he couldn't say for sure
whether or not his involvement was the first city participation
or if he had inherited the duties from someone else.
There's a mention of an Athens Christmas Parade chairman
in ACC public documents going back to 1960; however, there is
no definitive information about the Parade of Lights' inception.
First-time participant Chris Chapman, owner of Chapman
Fence, says he and his wife have enjoyed the event for several
years as spectators. His float will carry the a theme from a
popular Christmas song "Up On The Roof Top."
As a spectator, one thing
Chapman says he noticed was that
floats were lacking an "interactive"
element to them. That is when he
came up with the idea to have a
working rooftop landing strip. A zip
line from one end of his float will
carry children dressed in reindeer
costume from one end of the float
to the other, which is made up to
be a mock roof.
"If we go," Chapman says,
"we're going to win."
More and more floats have
live music, and this year's Athens
music float, sponsored by Flagpole,
AthFest and the 40 Watt Club, fea
tures Cracker, with David Lowery.
"To go with The Sounds of
Christmas," says Laurie Loftin of
the Public Utilities Department,
"our theme is 'I'll Have a Blue
Christmas Without You.' We are
taking the fact that the average American uses 100 gallons of
water a day," says Laurie Loftin. "It is hard to visualize how
much 100 gallons is, so we are making a snowflake out of 100
gallon jugs. Imagine how blue one would be without the blue
of water."
The parade begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5. The route of
the floats starts on the corner of Dougherty and Pulaski streets
and finishes in front of City Hall for the traditional tree-light
ing ceremony.
"Now, if Flagpole can ensure a cool and dry forecast, we're
good to go," Stevens says. (We'll do our best.)
David Schick
r
WHAT: The Parade of Lights
WHERE: Downtown Athens
\
WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m.
HOW MUCH: FREE!
V
y
John Rogeberg and Terry Aaron of the Athens-Clarke County Public Utilities Department work on their float
for the Parade of Lights.
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