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Mooresville parade could be biggest in years
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Published: November 23, 2008
With seven members of Mooresville High's remarkable cross country team leading the way, the 64th annual Mooresville Christmas Parade will kick off at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Making the runners the parade's grand marshals was an easy decision, parade chairman Ron Johnson of the Mooresville Convention and Visitors Bureau said.
"This year, the team was selected because they have won three state championships back to back, and that certainly deserves being the grand marshals," said Johnson.
Nearly 150 participants are slated to be in the 2008 parade, which will start at the intersection of Statesville Avenue and Main Street and march its way down Main Street to the old Burlington Mills plant at College Street.
Touted as "one of the largest parades in recent years," more than 3,000 children will participate, not to mention the thousands of children gathering along Main Street to watch the event unfold.
"We try to have this parade right now just as it was 64 years ago," Johnson said. "I like to build it as a hometown parade. And we have maintained that flavor of this parade for so many years."
Hoping for good weather — the long-range forecast predicts mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 50s — Johnson said a sunny, mild day can bring more than 12,000 onlookers to the annual parade.
"Last year the weather was extremely good and we probably had 15,000 people along the parade route," he said.
Among the participants in this year's parade — addition to the fire trucks, emergency vehicles, police cars and Santa Claus — will be the Mooresville High School Pride in Motion Marching Band, South Iredell High School Marching Vikings Band, Bandys High School Trojan Band, Lake Norman High School Marching Wildcat Band and, for the first time, the Pine Lake Preparatory Band.
The MHS Naval JROTC will be the honorary color guard.
Also, throughout the month of December — but not live on Tuesday — MI-Connection Channel 4 will air parade coverage from the event.
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