Planners of the Roy Martin Delta Band Festival, after working down to the wire on last year's route, have already finalized the course the Christmas parade will take this year.
The parade, which they hope will feature a "big-time band," will once again cross Keesler Bridge and include Grand Boulevard.
The parade will begin at 3:30 p.m Friday, Dec. 5, at the intersection of Howard Street and Carrollton Avenue, take a left on Market Street and a right on Fulton. It will then cross the newly refurbished Keesler Bridge and continue down Grand Boulevard until its intersection with Park Avenue.
When the bridge was closed for renovation last fall, the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce's band festival committee had to make some major changes. The result was a serpentine route, confined to downtown, that made six turns. The route cut North Greenwood from the route, upsetting some residents there.
This Christmas, with much of the major downtown construction expected to be complete by fall, the parade will be restored to a near straight shot with only two turns.
Janice Moor, the chamber's executive vice president, says the route will be easier to manage and will showcase the new Alluvian Hotel and Staplcotn's renovated offices.
"It's clean, and by that I mean that we only have two turns, one on Market and one on Fulton, so it's going to be much easier for the bands and the floats," Moor said. "We're going to be going down our beautiful, restored area."
The obstacles the committee faced last year were tough to overcome but may improve the parade in the long run, according to Bobby Fisher Jr., who chairs the committee.
"Sometimes you change because you have to, and it turns out to be for the better," he said. "This was a case where we made adjustments because we had to, and it worked out real nice."
The committee decided to repeat the start in the parking lots behind Mallette Furniture because of last year's response, Fisher said.
"It was probably the most attentive crowd since I've been involved with it," he said.
While planners wanted to avoid the same last-minute rush this year, the decision to set the route early was mainly for other reasons, Moor said.
The planning committee hopes to sign on a major band that will attract a greater number of acts than the parade has seen in recent years. That's going to require much more money than the chamber is usually budgeted, Moor said.
"If we're going to get a big-time band we needed to get started earlier so we can get our fund raising under way," she said.
