It has been in the planning since 2019 but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Now, however, Hollister’s first Christmas parade is planned for December 11 at 3 p.m. followed by a tree-lighting event.

The parade will step off at Gibbs Avenue and then turn right onto Highway 561 and end on Mitchell Street past Hollister school, said Wanda Rudd, one of the planners of the event.

“About 2019 we said Hollister is going to have a Christmas parade,” Rudd said.

The committee began planning and then COVID came and continued through last year.

• Click to open image! Click to open image!
•  

The committee has been working on the parade for the last three or four months and Rudd said Monday the committee went through the entry forms and is now planning a parade with 50 entries and 250 people.

“It’s really exciting but nervous at the same time,” she said.

The entry period is now closed, Rudd said. Bands include the Northwest Halifax and Warren County high school bands and the William R. Davie step team and the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School spirit team will perform.

Halifax County Commissioner Carolyn Johnson has been named the parade’s grand marshal. “Carolyn Johnson and her husband have helped people in the Hollister community their entire life. That’s why she was on the top of the list,” Rudd said. “When we told her the parade was back on track she said yes. It was an honor.”

The biggest reason for having a parade in Hollister is “unity in the Hollister community,” she said, adding, “I think it’s going to be where they (residents) have seen for so many years excitement in other towns. They can see Hollister can rise above its circumstances to give people a different outlook — that Hollister is a special place.”

Rudd gives the planning committee the credit for bringing the plans to fruition. The members are Tammie Battle, Mozelle Hedgepeth, Jessica Hedgepeth and Jerry Grady. “I couldn’t do it by myself,” said Rudd.

Jessica Hedgepeth is also in on the planning for the tree-lighting ceremony off Highway 561 just before the school.

Rudd said the parade will include professional floats, tribal council members and county commissioners. “We are supposed to have support from the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office and DOT (the state department of transportation) has been great as well.”