The annual Christmas parade route in Pembroke will be a tad longer than in years past after a decision by the Pembroke City Council at its regular meeting Monday.
The council unanimously approved to extend the parade route to include an additional block along Hwy. 280, ending or beginning at Harvey Street just past Pembroke Christian Church. The parade route in years past has traveled down Hwy. 280 from Warnell Street to Strickland Street.
City Clerk Betty Hill and City Project Manager Ricky McCoy told the council the Bryan County 4-H and Pembroke Christmas Festival Steering Committee, the parade sponsors, asked about extending the route.
“They wanted to extend it down as far as they could, possibly to Harvey’s (Supermarket),” McCoy said.
He told the council he’d spoken with a Department of Transportation traffic operations engineer who was not in favor of extending the route to Harvey’s due to the traffic detour. But he was receptive of extending the route one block, McCoy said.
Mayor Judy Cook said she was in favor of extending the route to Harvey Street.
“I think it would help to extend it down there because that gives you additional parking at the church,” Cook said.
Read more in the Oct. 12 edition of the News.