The deadline approaches for entrants in “A Hometown Christmas,” the theme for this year”s Columbus Christmas parade.
Preparations already are well under way for the annual Columbus Christmas Parade, which begins at 7 p.m. on Dec. 7.
Seventy different groups have registered for the event.
“We already have just as many participants as we had last year,” said Main Street Columbus Executive Director Amber Murphree Brislin.
The deadline for submitting an application for entry in the parade is Monday, and Main Street has continued received several calls from those interested in participating.
“Our theme for this year”s parade is ”A Hometown Christmas.” All participants are asked to follow the theme when they are decorating their entry. They must be festively decorated,” she said.
“Frances Jutman is serving as the parade”s grand marshal because of her vast contributions to our community, and is deserving of the honor,” Murphree Brislin said.
Jutman, who retired from National Bank of Commerce in 1992 as vice president of marketing and business development, was recipient of the first Presidential Citation from the American Bankers Association and was past president of the East Central Mississippi National Association of Bank Women.
Jutman, a 1948 Mississippi University for Women graduate, was presented with the Celebration of Service award in 2005 by the Lowndes County Chapter of MUW alums. She also earned the “Green Jacket” as a past president Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce for enrolling the most members in the annual membership drive in 1978.
Jutman will lead the parade in a horse-drawn carriage.
Entry fees for the parade are $35 for non-profit organizations, walking groups, floats, beauty queens and personalities. Fees for businesses are $50.
Cash prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
n Best Overall Float: $75 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.
n Best Overall Band: $50.
The parade lineup starts at 5 p.m. at the Hitching Lot Farmers” Market at Second Avenue and Second Street North. Murphree Brislin said parade entrants will have to enter the farmers” market from Highway 82 instead of Highway 45 North.
“It will be closed. Also, parade entrants will not be given numbers. The earlier you arrive, the closer to the front you will be,” she said.
From the farmers” market, the parade will continue east on Main Street to 14th Street, then turns right on 14th to College Street, and goes down College Street and takes a right on Fifth Street South, then goes left back onto Second Avenue North back to the farmers” market.
Along with bands, floats, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and others, Murphree Brislin said Mississippi State University”s head football coach, Dan Mullen, will ride in the parade, along with three players from the Columbus-Lowndes County area, including Tyson Lee, Derek Sherrod and Tobias Smith.
Allen Baswell was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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