The City of Paris held its annual Christmas parade and lighting ceremony last Saturday at the Logan County Courthouse Square. After days of watching weather forecasts and eventually delaying the start of the parade by one hour, the rain finally moved out of the area and the many on hand to take part in the parade were treated to colorful lights, floats, and Christmas cheer to kickoff the holiday season.
The parade, organized and led by the Paris Area Chamber of Commerce and its executive director, Tonya Fletcher, did an outstanding job in doing whatever was necessary to hold the parade on its scheduled date. Rain is certainly a factor that cannot be controlled, but the Chamber delayed any decision on whether or not to go on as scheduled, or move to its contingency date of Monday, weather permitting.
But almost on cue, the rainfall became much lighter around 6:45 p.m. and the lighting ceremony was held at 7 p.m.; the parade started approximately ten minutes later. Everyone in attendance had a great time, and the Christmas season had officially began in Paris.
The parade and lighting ceremony kickoffs a month of lights on the square along with Saturday evening events and carriage rides. The courthouse square decorations and lighting were weeks in the works of city crews to install and connect the lights in time for the parade. Our town owes everyone who made this happen a special debt of gratitude for creating a storybook Christmas setting that continues to draw attention from across the state, as well as from several media outlets.
