Tuesday, November 20, 2018 3:58 am

The annual Woodbury Lions Club Christmas Parade will be Saturday, December 1, 2018; stepping off from the corner of Adams and Main Street at high noon.

The Woodbury Lions Club hosts this annual event with assistance from the Woodbury Police Department, Cannon County Sheriff's Department, DTC Communications, the Cannon Courier, WBRY Radio, the UT Ag Extension Service, the Town of Woodbury, Santa Claus, and the ENTIRE County!

We invite anyone interested in placing an entry in the parade to do so. Please make sure your entry is readily and clearly identified on the passenger side, so that our friends at DTC can announce you during the broadcast of the parade.

The Woodbury Lions Club will provide a float for Santa to ride as the end of the parade; so since Santa is coming all this way during his busiest time of the year, we ask only that there be no lookalikes to confuse the children along the route, please.

No ATV type four- or three-wheelers are permitted. Candy, etc. can be thrown for parade viewers, but only with care and caution; Lions battle blindness every day, we do not need to cause any at a Christmas Parade, nor do we need to get anyone stepped on or run over trying to reach candy right beside the parade itself.

We hope everyone in Cannon County and beyond can come enjoy this wonderful celebration that kicks-off the Christmas Season!

Staging areas for participants are as follows:

• Floats and Marching Bands: Woodbury Grammar School Parking lot

• Cars and other vehicles with no trailers (antiques, classics, tractors, dignitaries, etc): Lions Club parking lot

• Emergency Response Vehicles (Fire & Rescue): Annie Cox Drive on west side of WGS (line up nose out starting at corner of Annie Cox and W Adams)

• Horses and Mules: Horses on one end and Mules on the other of the field near the Clayton Glenn Champions Arena behind the Ag Extension Office and Rescue Squad Building. First ones arriving can choose their ends.

• Police and Flag Horse: Middle Tennessee Electric Parking Lot

Informational maps can be picked up at the UT Ag Extension Office on W Lehman Street. The Parade Route will run from west to east down Main Street beginning at 12 pm. There will be some congestion on W. Adams (by-pass) and W. Lehman Streets from 10:00 - 12:30 as the parade stages and steps off at noon.

Other routes through town will also be blocked or delayed as the parade makes its circle through town; so please plan your day and trips accordingly. Main Street (US Highway 70S) will be blocked for nearly an hour as the parade passes through town.

The Parade will turn right (south) onto Highway 53 at McDonalds and First Bank. It will then turn right (west) onto W. Lester Street to pass behind the viewing windows at the Woodbury Nursing Center, so that residents there can enjoy the festivities from the warmth of the building (please wave as you go by!).

It will then turn left (south) onto College Street and right (west) onto W Lehman to conclude at the staging areas in which it started.

Whether you plan to be a part of the parade or a joyful spectator, we hope you come enjoy this holiday tradition with us. We are Thankful to live in such a wonderful community and wish you all a Merry Christmas!