Parade

The mayor's tree-lighting ceremony will be 6 p.m. Saturday at Weisiger Park at the Boyle County Courthouse, and the Christmas parade will kick off at 7 p.m. The parade will have a theme of silver bells to honor the Heart of Danville's 25th anniversary.

HARRODSBURG - At 3 a.m. this Thanksgiving, as visions of sweet potatoes dance in our heads, Olivia Perkins, 18, will prepare to perform for more than 50 million people. She'll walk to arguably the most famous New York City block and practice a days-old routine one last time. Then, slowly, slowly, her Mercer County Senior High School classmates will crawl out of bed to watch her dance on the nation's biggest November stage - Herald's Square. As a member of the Macy's Great American Marching Band color guard, Perkins will spin her way through Manhattan on Thursday, giving even her most reluctant friends reason to rise early.

The Winchester Music Club, which is affiliated with the National and Kentucky Federation of Music Clubs, met Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the First Presbyterian Church for the Parade of American Music Program, which is observed annually in November. Dr. William Cooper, president, welcomed the group and Cecil Garrett led in reading the Federation Collect. “For the Beauty of the Earth,” from the “Together We Sing” booklet, was sung by the group with Dr. Cooper as accompanist.The program sponsors were Dr. Cooper and Betsy Garrett, who introduced the American Women Composer's Program.

The Winchester Elks Lodge invites the public to “A Kentucky Christmas.” A partnership between the Elks and Winchester First will bring changes to the annual downtown Christmas parade, and Elks members hope the community will support the 2011 Kentucky-themed event at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. “I remember when I was a kid, that was the big event of the year,” Jon Tuttle, a trustee at the local lodge, said. The Elks will organize the event and provide $500 in sponsorship money.

The Christmas Parade will be 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and the theme will be “A¿Kentucky Christmas.” There is a $10 entry fee into the parade, and those interested can contact Tim Janes, executive director of Winchester First, at tjanes@winchesterky.com. The first place float will receive $150, and the second place float $100.

Resident concerned with safety for Jessamine Jamboree Dear Editor, In light of the fact that the project on Main Street continues to be very hazardous for motorists and pedestrians alike, I am very concerned about the safety of those who will participate in the upcoming Jessamine Jamboree parade. It's bad enough to try and drive on Main Street with all the potholes, metal covers and traffic cones, but I can't imagine trying to march or walk as part of a parade.

For the past 106 years, the Labor Day Celebration and parade in downtown Winchester has been a time of celebration and a source of pride for the African-American community in and around Winchester. The festival continues this year with the crowning of the Labor Day Queen, dances, concerts, food and fellowship, concluding with the parade on Labor Day. The festival committee selected local ministers to serve as grand marshals of this year's parade. Presiding with the grand marshals will be the queen, who will be crowned moments before the parade begins Monday afternoon.

Pacing back and forth and decked out in her star-spangled outfit, 5-year-old Sarah Pierce of South Shore, Ky., anxiously waited while looking up Wilmore’s Main Street in anticipation of the parade. She was among the thousands who lined the streets of Wilmore for that city’s 23rd annual Festival of the Fourth on Monday morning. “My brother-in-law (Doug Howland) lives down here, and we visit him every Fourth of July,” Sarah’s dad, Travis Pierce, said. “He’s in the Lawn-Mower Brigade,” Sarah’s mother, Heather Pierce, said.

For the past 20 years, a group of men from Wilmore has donned their John Deere hats, khaki shorts, sneakers, button-up shirts and neckties each Fourth of July. Each year, they pull their lawn mowers from their gardening sheds and garages and decorate them with flags. And each year for the past two decades, with their practiced choreography and light-hearted marching and spirits, they’ve stepped onto Main Street in Wilmore and embraced their role as the “highlight” of the Festival of the Fourth parade.

The sun was shining and the skies were clear Saturday morning for the 22nd annual Great American Brass Band Festival parade.  The warm, dry weather was a nice change of pace from previous parades, said Danville resident Linda Knight. “We always manage to have a little bit of rain or excitement with thunderstorms,” she said. “But people just go put on their ponchos and keep listening.” Knight would know. She has been to every one of the brass band festivals, but she said that even the rainy years were great experiences.