Santa Claus and helpers ride on an Oak Ridge fire truck during the 2013 Christmas Parade. (File photo by D. Ray Smith)
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Parade starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, December 13. More than 100 entries have registered to participate.
The parade will start at Corporate Center on the corner of Lafayette and Laboratory Road. From there, the parade will travel down Lafayette to the Oak Ridge Turnpike. It will continue west on the Turnpike to Oak Ridge High School. The judge’s stand will be located in front of the Chamber.
Sponsors of this year’s parade are Mullins Wealth Management and The Cowperwood Company, a press release said.
For the first time in many years, the Kerbela Temple Shriners will be bringing their well-known, crowd-pleasing cars to entertain the spectators along the route, the release said. Other participants include the Oak Ridge High School Wildband, elected officials, area fire departments, several churches from the community, civic organizations, local businesses, and others.
SARG and the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will be participating with pets who have been adopted, as well as some who are looking for a forever home.
And no parade would be complete without horses.
The Chamber of Commerce has also learned that the Oak Ridge Fire Department plans to have a special guest riding one of their vehicles at the end of the parade—Santa Claus will be greeting spectators and checking off his list as he travels the parade route.
A comprehensive listing of participants may be found on the Chamber’s website at www.oakridgechamber.org.
The Chamber will need lots of Santa’s elves to serve as volunteer parade marshals to make the parade a safe, fun, and successful event. To volunteer and be put on Santa’s “nice” list, contact Greta Ownby at ownby@orcc.org or (865) 483-1321.
For those who are unable to attend Saturday’s event, the parade will be recorded for broadcast by BBB Channel 12. Broadcast dates and times will be announced later.
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