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Downtown Christmas Parade

*Monday – December 4th, 2023 at 6:30 PM

(first Monday in December)

THEME: Christmas in Candyland

2023 Parade Line-Up


christmas treeRules & Reminders

The parade will start at the intersection of Clay and Broad and will end at the Farmer’s Market (vehicles) & All Saints Episcopal Church (walkers).

We are not able to give you an exact location on Broad St. for your number. We will put the numbers down on Monday at 10 AM in numerical order. I will send a follow-up email with how we have laid out the numbers by Monday afternoon. All bands will assemble on Clay St. between Madison and Broad. This year we will line up in numerical order on the street along Broad St. ONLY.

The entry point for this year’s parade will be only at Walcott Street. Once you enter the parade staging area, you will be routed to your designated entry location. All staging will be on Broad St. starting at Clay St. and continuing north on Broad to Walcott.

1. THE ROUTE will end at the Farmer's Market. You can not continue down Smith Ave. For safety, it is blocked off.

  • NEW THIS YEAR! – All waking groups will disband at All Saints Episcopal Church parking lot, located at 443 S. Hansell St.
  • Walking participants can be picked up from that area by accessing Hansell Street.
  • Walkers may join their families in a pre-designated area. YMCA staff are not responsible for walking participants. Communicate with parents so that they will know where to pick their child up. An adult from your group must be responsible for the children until their parents arrive.
  • Please don’t stop right when you get into the Farmer’s Market gates, listen to the parade official and keep moving up and then to the side to safely unload from your float, etc.
  • No one under the age of 16 can drive a motorized vehicle.
  • All horses must wear a horse diaper in order to participate.

2. POLICE –

  • The police will shut down Broad St. at 3:30 PM. No parking permitted.
  • The police will shut down Smith and Hansell at 5 PM
  • The police will shut down the intersection of Smith and Kern at 6:30 PM
  • The police will not let non-parade entries onto Broad St. Please encourage parents dropping off children to come up the nearest side street and walk to their destination.

3. Parade Officials will have neon yellow bibs. Their job is to keep both participants and spectators safe and informed. Listen and follow their directions in order to ensure a safe parade! If you have any questions, both officials and police will have the lineup and can assist you.

4. No one is to dress as SANTA! We will have only one Santa and we take care of that. Children get confused as to why there is more than one and we don't want parents to have to explain that.

5. You may hand out candy (not throw, especially from the floats!) and/or discount/freebies. Do not hand out flyers with information as they will get thrown on the ground.

6. Music containing rude or obscene lyrics will not be allowed. ONLY CHRISTMAS MUSIC IS ALLOWED.

7. All entries are required to maintain a forward motion at all times. (This is the biggest complaint we have every year) We will have parade officials along the parade route to encourage forward motion. When you stop it creates gaps! So please keep moving!

8. JUDGING INFORMATION - THEME: Christmas in Candyland - Judges will evaluate each entry's interpretation of the parade theme. All entries being judged must be in place no later than 5:30 PM. Judging will begin promptly at 5:30 PM and entries not ready at that time will not be judged. Entries not being judged must be lined up by 6 PM. The parade will start promptly at 6:30 PM.

9. Please use your best judgment. Police will be located all along the parade route and entry points.

10. Please stay in line according to your number. Do not try to get in front of anyone else.

11. All animals must be kept on leads under complete control in their assigned spots. All horses must wear a horse diaper in order to participate.

Thomasville YMCA/Thomas County Recreation looks forward to this event each year and feels that it is a great Thomasville tradition. We thank you again for your participation in helping us to have a successful parade.

For more information please contact Katie Ketchum at 229-226-3446 or kketchum@ymca-thomasville.org