By Helina Bailey
Mark your calendars! Union County Rescue Squad is hosting their annual Christmas parade on Sunday, December 11th, at 2:20pm. Everyone is invited to attend and enjoy the festive event.
The parade will start at Union County High School and will showcase a variety of floats, vehicles, horses, and Santa Claus. If we are lucky, we might even catch a glimpse of the infamous mini ponies pulling their carriage. There will definitely be antique and classic cars, competing for titles.
This year, the public is welcome to compete for a trophy in a variety of categories, ranging from float genre to type of vehicle. Registration is free, with no need to pre-register. The available categories are:
-Best Antique Car & Truck from oldest to 1950 -Best Classic Car & Truck from 1951 to 1975
-Best late Model Car and Truck from 1976 to 2022 -Best Jeep
-Best Antique Tractor -Best Club Float -Best Horse & Rider
-Best Commercial -Best Religious -Best Heavy-Duty Truck
All floats must be Christmas-oriented in order to be part of the parade and should prepare to be in position for judging by 1:30 p.m. Drivers must stay with their vehicles until after their float has been judged.
For safety reasons, there are a few important rules that participants must abide by. First and foremost, candy is forbidden from being thrown to the left side of the roadway (in front of oncoming traffic). Once the parade starts, the procession order must stay the same. Drivers are not allowed to cut in line or swerve into oncoming traffic in order to go around another float. Santa Claus will be arriving with the Rescue Squad, so no other Santas are permitted to attend the parade.
The parade is expected to have a large turnout, so arrive early to secure a good viewing spot. Pull out some chairs and prepare for a great time! Parents, don’t forget to keep an eye on your children and keep them from darting into the road as the floats throw out candy. Merry Christmas!
The directions for lining up and judging per the Union County Rescue Squad are as follows:
Anyone participating in the parade is asked to bring their float to the backside of the high school, entering from Durham Drive. For participants driving in a commercial vehicle, meet in front of the high school. If you have a car that you are driving (without a float), please come in off Main Street to the student parking lot. If you are bringing a tractor or vehicle on a float and need to offload it, enter from Durham Drive and park in the parking lot behind the high school near the vocational section. If you have horses, please come in off Main Street and park at the baseball field. Rules are as follows: Floats can be on trucks, trailers, car haulers etc. ABSOLUTELY NO FOUR WHEELERS OR DIRT BIKES!
For more information call the Rescue Squad Building at 865-992-3811, Tony Bailey at 865-805-5517, or Martin Nicely at 865-266-9218.