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“Christmas at the Movies” will be this year’s theme for tomorrow’s Downtown Springfield Christmas Parade. The parade will meander through central Springfield beginning at 1pm. KSMU’s Nathan McVay has more on the annual event.
Sixteen marching bands, face painting clowns and a Griswold family themed float. All of these will be on the scene tomorrow for the annual downtown Springfield Christmas parade.
Kathryn Vicat is the parade organizer for the Urban Districts Alliance and she says she loves the holiday spirit that parade time brings.
“It’s really a nice holiday event, that incorporates a lot of the community groups and associations to kind of come out and enjoy the Christmas time and kick things off,” she says.
It appears the cold weather temperatures will take a break tomorrow just in time for the parade.
With a forecast of partly sunny skies and high near 55, Vicat says she’s trying to be optimistic about one of the most important parts of a parade: the weather.
“We’re holding out. It’s supposed to be sunny outside and warm, a little windy. But we’re thinking, last year it rained and it was just awful. So this year we are hoping it is going to be better and we have a great turnout for everything,” she said.
I’m standing here at the intersection of Campbell and Mt. Vernon, where tomorrows Downtown Christmas parade will kick off. The route will then take it north on Campbell Street to Park Central West where it will then turn right and proceed through the south side of the Park Central square.
“We do pre parade activities on the square from 11 to 1 with inflatable and games and face painting and clowns and snacks and that kind of thing, so with the parade going right around the square it’s a great venue,” she said.
The parade committee started something new last year in an effort to give back to the community.
“Last year we began a literacy project where we began collecting new and gently used books for area organizations. This year we are collecting books for the kitchen on commercial street, so we are really trying to support literacy this year,” she said.
The holiday activities begin at 11 tomorrow morning on the square and the actual parade begins at 1. Following the parade, the Vineyard Church and the Way Faith Community will host a free chili dinner for all Springfield residents. For KSMU News, I’m Nathan McVay.
