For years, the annual Columbus Christmas Parade has followed a route downtown that runs down Main Street then travels along College Street.
While the crowds have always been heavy along Main Street, spectators along College Street have been comparatively few. The heavy concentration of spectators has produced something of a bottleneck along Main Street.
Saturday’s parade begins at 7 p.m. and will follow the same route as in previous years.
Parade organizers this year hope to bring more viewers to College Street this year and have plans for special treats to achieve that.
Columbus Main Street Director Barbara Bigelow said the parade will include several features along College Street designed to lure spectators.
“We will have a stilt-walker wearing a Rapunzel costume on College Street,” Bigelow said. “We will have a snow-blower blowing snow into the crowd during the entire parade, so we need folks on College to enjoy that, we will have singers across street from Annunciation Catholic Church.”
This year’s theme, “A Fairy Tale Christmas,” includes every character from the classic nursery rhyme.
The Parade Committee, a team of community volunteers, is working diligently to make this year’s Christmas Parade the best one yet, Bigelow said.
“I think everyone can have a lot of fun with this year’s theme,” Bigelow said. “Who doesn’t have a favorite fairy tale?”
In keeping with the theme, the choice for Grand Marshal was obvious: Edwina Williams, aka, “Mother Goose,” aka, “Miz Claus,” will serve in that role.
And, of course, no parade is complete without Santa Claus who will again be riding on a Columbus Fire & Rescue engine adding the final touch to the parade.
As of Sunday, 56 groups have signed up to participate in the parade, including the marching bands from Columbus High School and West Lowndes High School.
Sponsorships are available for the Christmas parade. Any individual or business that is interested in supporting the parade should contact the Main Street Columbus office at 328-6305.
“We hope everybody in our community will come out and celebrate the holiday season with us as we bring the magic of Christmas to downtown Columbus,” Bigelow said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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