Main Street announces theme, grand marshal for Christmas Parade

The Starkville Main Street Association has announced the date for this year’s Christmas parade.

Presented by Reed’s of Starkville, the parade will be held on Monday, November 29 at 6 p.m. on Main Street.

In the announcement, it was stated that this year’s parade theme is “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in honor of Mike Goree’s 35th year participating in the Starkville Christmas Parade since 1986.

“That’s a really long time to be such a big part of the parade. The theme is always something particular, and there have been several great themes throughout the years, but I knew that his 35th anniversary was coming up, so we thought it would be nice to honor him. We’re also thankful for Starkville Rotary Club for being his sponsor every year,” said Starkville Main Street Director Paige Watson. “He was a part of the digital broadcast last year, and he did a great job with that. Since I’m from here, and I know a lot of other people that are from here too, we’re very particular about our Santa Claus, and Mike Goree is the real deal.”

The title of Grand Marshal for the Starkville Christmas Parade is a big honor. When the Main Street Association was figuring out who that would be for this year, Watson thought none other than the man and his staff who led the way to Mississippi State’s first national championship.

“We’ll celebrate [the national championship] as long as we can, and I still sometimes can’t believe that we won this year. Naming [Chris Lemonis] and his staff as Grand Marshals is just a huge honor for him, and we’re just so proud of the Bulldogs,” said Watson. “We’re so thankful for the staff, what they’ve done for our community, and what the team this year. I mean what they did is just paramount, it will never be topped.”

As for every year, Watson has high hopes for this year’s Christmas parade.

“Typically, anywhere on a good year, we’ll have 60 to 80 participants, but if we get 100 this year, that would really just take the cake. We’re trying to get more university units encouraged and involved. So, we just look forward to everybody coming out,” said Watson. “This is a special celebration, it’s kind of one last big hurrah before the students go home for winter break, and it’s just exciting to celebrate all things Starkville.”

Judging categories for this year’s parade include Best Use of Theme, Best Use of Lights, and Best Overall Float entries.

For more information about this year’s parade, you can visit the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s website at www.starkville.org, or contact Watson at 662-323-3322 or email pwatson@ starkville.org.