Harlan Christmas parade set for Dec. 4

Published 5:03 pm Tuesday, November 23, 2021

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The Harlan Christmas parade returns this year with floats and revelry flooding the downtown city streets of Harlan the evening of Dec. 4.

Downtown Development Coordinator for Harlan Tourism Laura Adkisson shed some light on the plans for the parade, which is returning this year after a one-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The parade will take off at 6 p.m. on Dec. 4,” Adkisson said.

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Parade participants will need to arrive some time before the event is set to begin.

“Line up will be at 4:30 p.m.,” Adkisson said.

According to Adkisson, this year’s parade will have an appropriate holiday theme.

“This year’s theme is ’Christmas Time’s A-Coming,’” Adkisson said.

She explained how this year’s theme for the parade was decided.

“’Christmas Time’s A-Coming’ is one of our favorites, it’s a really positive, uplifting Christmas song,” Adkisson explained. “It’s a toe tapper. We thought that would be a great theme.”

The parade’s return after last year’s absence gives this year’s installment special meaning.

“In 2020, we missed out on a lot of our favorite events, especially the Christmas parade, so we wanted to come back with something really enthusiastic and exciting,” Adkisson said. “We just felt like ’Christmas Time’s A-Coming’ is a great way to look forward to everything that the holiday season will bring in the next few weeks leading up to Christmas.”

Adkisson mentioned this year’s parade is shaping up to be an impressive event.

“We’ve had a lot of interest so far,” Adkisson said. “We’ve had interest from businesses, several churches, and a lot of children’s organizations that will work together to put together a float for the parade…the more interest that we have the more fun it is for everyone in the parade and for the spectators.”

There is no fee to enter a float in the parade.

“We want as many participants as we can get,” Adkisson said. “We don’t charge anything to enter, but we do offer a $500 grand prize.”

For more information on entering a float in the parade or any other parade details, call the Harlan Center at 606-573-4156.