The 2021 Owensboro-Daviess County Christmas Parade is under new reins, as community members are working to host the annual tradition in mid-December and hope for the largest parade yet.
For Tricia Shyver, the head of the community-run event, the Christmas parade was one of her favorite childhood traditions. Now with children of her own, after hearing the parade was canceled she started to think of how to bring it back.
“It’s time to find some normalcy again. I think our children especially deserve that,” Shyver said.
Tim Ross, City of Owensboro Public Events Director, announced Tuesday that there will be 12 Days of Christmas events happening every weekend downtown, and Shyver is hoping to join the festivities.
“I’ve already spoken to Tim Ross … as of right now, Dec. 18 is what we’re set on. It’s a little closer to Christmas than what we would have liked,” Shyver said.
The effort to bring it back started as a Facebook post and grew into a group that now has more than 200 members ready to provide a hand in some facet to bring one of the city’s biggest traditions back at a moment they feel is most important.
Shyver said this also acts as an awareness for the parade committee itself. When the original parade was canceled by the volunteer committee that runs the events, Shyver found several people who did not know there was a committee and that they believed it was something the City put together itself.
Now with the help of several community members and businesses, she thinks this will showcase the power of community organization.
“This is more of a movement and kind of showing the city what it looks like when the citizens can come together and that we can make things happen,” Shyver said.
One of the people that joined along the way is realtor Sarah Barnes. Barnes has seen Shyver bring together a last-minute Trunk-or-Treat, so when the opportunity came to lead the parade Barnes signed on immediately.
Barnes has found herself working primarily with the float roster and sign-ups. After making a Facebook post that got more than 300 shares, she began receiving messages and calls from all across town.
“I’ve tried to respond to everybody,” Barnes said. “So that led me to do a Facebook Live video because I felt like I wasn’t responding to people probably as fast as they really expected me to, but it’s because I was slammed.”
With the number of people reaching out to Barnes, she said this is likely to be the biggest parade the city has had.
Shyver believes that is in part due the diverse amount of people they are attracting, and that she said she has noticed families and other groups were joining and fulfilling a wish to be a part of the event.
“People are seeing that you don’t have to be a business. You don’t have to be an organization. You can still participate and bring that joy to other families,” Shyver said.
To help draw more people and even add to some familiarity of booking downtown streets, Friday After 5 Executive Director Fran Marseille, joined the group on Tuesday after talking to Mayor Tom Watson.
“I’m ready. Whatever it takes. I’m excited to be a part of it and try to help and get it out there,” Marseille said.
Marseille said she was excited for the parade until she heard the format had been changed to a static display and ultimately canceled. Since being in contact with Shyver, Marseille said she is excited to provide some extra connections to the group.
Marseille said she plans to use her connections to also get the grand marshal for the parade and has even made a call to ensure Santa Claus flies down as well.
Even with the change in leadership and time, Shyver still hopes to make it as traditional as possible.
“It’s dark and cold, but it’s the Christmas parade and there are lights and people expect that,” Shyver said. “I want to keep it as close to the traditional where people can enjoy all those traditional parts of it, but bring new life to it.”
