The Bryan County 4-H program and City of Pembroke will sponsor the 25th Annual Christmas in Pembroke Parade and Festival Saturday, Dec. 13 in downtown Pembroke.
The parade with festival is the sole fund-raising event for all 4-H programs in Bryan County and begins at 9 a.m. with arts and crafts, food, entertainment, carnival games and prizes, silent auction, moon walk, large slide, bungee jump and rock wall, as well as vendor booths.
Shanna Davis, Bryan County’s 4-H agent, expects a good turn out and fun to be had by those who attend.
"I really think we are going to have a bigger crown than we’ve had in the past. It’s the 25th anniversary of the parade, and there are going to be a lot of different activities this year that we haven’t had before," Davis said.
Among the new items on the festival agenda are one-mile and five-mile runs that start at 8 and 8:30 a.m., a car show, motorcycle show and awards in multiple divisions for the cars and motorcycles.
Davis said vendor space has all been taken and people are on a waiting list for a booth in the event another cancels.
The parade will begin at 11 a.m. led by Grand Marshal Diane Moore.
Moore, born and raised in Cochran, Ga., has been credited with beginning the annual event after moving to Pembroke in 1980 and was surprised when she was asked to be grand marshal this year.
"We had lived here for three years and missed the small town parade that had been such a big part of our lives. So, I spoke with some folks, we presented it to the city and it grew from there," Moore said.
"I feel very honored. Pembroke is home to me and my husband even though we weren’t born here and it has always been home to our children. Being asked to be grand marshal really means a lot to me," she said.
Another new item on this year’s parade agenda is Fort Stewart and the US Army’s Wreath Across America for the city of Pembroke. The wreath will be given an escort by the Pembroke Police Department from the garrison gate/fire tower boundary along Hwy. 119 to Memorial Park then, at 2 p.m., the wreath will be set at Pembroke’s Memorial Park at the base of the flagpole that flies the stars and stripes and the POW-MIA flag.
Participants in the parade and its festivities can pre-register by calling the 4-H office at 653-2231 or online at www.caes.uga.edu/extension/bryan.