I’m going to sound like the aged Rose Dawson in Titanic, “it’s been 84 years.” Not really. Pardon the hyperbole, it’s been eight and a pandemic ago, but it has felt like forever.
Finally, this Saturday at 9 a.m. the Fountain City Christmas Parade makes its return, for the first time since 2016. The 2017 edition was cancelled somewhat late in the game as the Knoxville Police Department had determined it was simply too much risk to shut down more than a mile long stretch of northbound Boadway to keep the parade going. We haven’t had once since.
I grumbled about it last year, mentioning that the growing population from Fountain City northwards to Halls/Gibbs/Corryton had made the traffic situation untenable. At the time I wrote:
I think if there is any hope of resurrecting the parade, it needs to start at Central, run up Essary to Broadway, turn right on Broadway, then right into Central Baptist Church. Sorry, KPD, but if we’re going to have a parade, we HAVE to use part of Broadway, and it has to go through the heart of Fountain City: meaning past the lake, the park and Hotel Avenue. I think it’s doable.
I claim nor take any credit for actually getting this year’s renewal off the ground. Other than whining publicly, I had nothing to do with it, but I wasn’t too far off the mark in terms of the route, though it will occur in reverse direction. Participants will start lining up at 7 a.m. Saturday, with step off scheduled for 9 a.m. The parade will begin at Gresham Middle School, proceed down Hotel Avenue past Fountain City Park to Broadway. Then it will make a brief right on Broadway before immediately turning left on Essary Road. The procession will continue down Essary before making a left on Rosebay and ending at Central High School.
Route for the Fountain City Christmas Parade
The credit for getting this thing back on the calendar goes to the Fountain City Business & Professional Association and sponsors R. Larry Smith & Associates, Pratt’s Country Store, Charlie Pratt and Modern Woodmen Financial, Fountain City Church, Kim Day Training, Jennifer Morris with Keller Williams Realty, Olympus Car & Coach and Burns Mailing & Printing. They deserve a round of applause.
Also deserving a round of applause are the nearly 50 organizations, businesses or loosely gathered, somewhat nutty friends who signed up for the parade. The latter includes the popular Candy Cane Queens, back with a group of six, “a little older and tacky as ever” per queen Nan Dickinson. State Farm agent Penny Kleinschmidt will be there in her lady bug beetle, Grinch and Cindy Lou Who in tow. Fountain City Town Hall is also getting in on the action.
As expected, and as it should be, there will be considerable participation from Central High School, anchored by the Bobcat Marching Band, and, of course, Santa. There will be snacks and hot chocolate to be had along the way.
Parade goers should be mindful of parking legally (car pooling is a plus) and will be limited close to Fountain City Park. There’s a sidewalk for viewing the long stretch down the north side of Essary that runs from Litton’s parking lot to Jacksboro Pike. It will be cold Saturday morning, so bundle up!
To the rest of Knox County NOT coming for the parade but needing to get somewhere north or south of Fountain City, please be patient or find another route (Tazewell Pike to Jacksboro Pike and vice versa).
It’s appropriate that the route runs from the old Central High School to the new one. And that it runs past the park and the duck pond, the subjects of my next whine: these two public spaces in our community need to be lit up for the holiday season. We’ll get on that for next year.
Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.
