Gibsonville will experiment with a later start time for its 2025 Christmas parade – 4:00 on the second Saturday afternoon in December, rather than the customary 2:00 hour – in hopes of helping downtown businesses.
William Clark of Wade’s Jewelers, one of the key retailers in the downtown area, told the town’s aldermen last week that the 2:00 early afternoon start time “hurts our businesses to close our stores in the middle of the day.”
Clark said that his store’s busiest time of the day is 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but that on parade Saturdays their business dwindles a soon as police begin to close off downtown streets, now around noon, in order to prepare for the parade.
“Once we close (for parking), it’s over,” Clark said. Clark said to his recollection, during the past 26 years, the Christmas parade start time had been 2:00 p.m.
[Burlington’s and Graham’s Christmas parade are typically at 10:00 a.m. while Mebane has a unique nighttime parade that begins at 7:00 p.m.]
Clark urged “just as late [a start time] as possible,” but aldermen did not like the 5:00 p.m. possibility (his store’s closing time).
Mayor pro tem Mark Shepherd said he didn’t have a problem “with giving it [a later start time] a try,” although alderman Irene Fanelli said should would not favor any later start time than 4:00, fearing that the fast-approaching darkness of that time of year would be a negative, particular for the number of children who would be out and about.
Aldermen voted unanimously, 5-0, for Fanelli’s motion to set the time at 4:00, with streets to be closed at 2:00.
Read other Gibsonville news in this week’s edition:
- Demolition contract approved to begin clearing part of old Dixie Belle textile mill now owned by the town: https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-will-pay-77600-to-demolish-part-of-mill-building-it-now-owns/
- Aldermen approve pay for town’s ABC board: $200 per meeting ($50 above state law’s maximum): https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-aldermen-agree-to-start-paying-abc-board-members-200-per-meeting/
- Aldermen give mid-year raise to town’s 75 employees that will cost its taxpayers $331,000 annually: https://alamancenews.com/aldermen-ok-331k-in-raises-for-towns-75-employees/
TO GET MORE LOCAL NEWS EVERY WEEK – AND ONLINE EVERY DAY – CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE.
