After disagreements about participation in the annual Parade of Lights caused Taylor to host two separate Christmas parades last year, the city is hosting just one Christmas Parade this weekend.
Taylor will put on its first Christmas Parade organized by city officials, called The Christmas Parade on Main Street, which will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2.
“The city of Taylor’s Christmas Parade is currently the only parade that holds a special events permit on (Dec. 2),” said Ruby Fisher, the city’s special events coordinator.
She added that she is the person in charge of the special events permitting for the city and has not seen an application for another parade on Saturday.
Last year, tension stemmed from Taylor Pride being excluded from joining the parade, which was organized by the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance, a Christian organization.
Denise Rodgers, Taylor Pride president, said the LGTBQ group will have a float in this year’s city parade.
The Christmas Parade on Main Street will begin Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. At least 41 entries are expected to participate. Photo by Hunter Dworaczyk
“We plan to participate every year as long as we are an active organization,” Rodgers said. “Our community celebrates holidays just like everyone else and feel that representation and sending a message of peace and inclusivity is very important.”
She added that it did not take much discussion from their board since the organization has participated each of the past two years.
The parade route runs from Twelfth Street and Main Street to Third and Main. Once it is completed, a tree-lighting ceremony will take place at Heritage Square.
The ceremony is sponsored by the Taylor Parks and Recreation department. Not Past 11, an 18-piece band, will perform on the park’s stage.
Familiar carols, such as “Joy to The World”, “Jingle Bells”, “Deck The Halls” and “Silent Night”, will be sung at the ceremony.
“It’s just really exciting to see such small-town pride come out, especially around the holidays,” Fisher said. “I think that everybody is just excited to get to celebrate together and really be part of a community.”
The city expects at least 41 entries to participate in the The Christmas Parade on Main Street, Fisher said. Vehicles and walkers include local youth football teams, business representatives and bands.
Applications to participate in the parade were open for anyone to enter from early November up until Friday, Nov. 24. Fisher said no entry was turned away, besides a horse that wasn’t parade certified and trained.
Fisher said she hopes at least 1,000 spectators attend to view the paraders.
“This is one of our larger events,” Fisher said. “I am really hoping because of the high amount of entries, we also have a high amount of the community turn out and watch. I think it’s going to be really sweet.”
