The 67th Annual Asheville Holiday Parade is Saturday, Nov. 23

Bundle up, grab a lawn chair or a piece of sidewalk and get ready for the Asheville Holiday Parade to march, roll, cartwheel and cheer its way through downtown. This year marks the 67th iteration of the annual event. It takes place on Saturday, Nov. 23, starting at 11 a.m. It begins on Biltmore Avenue near South Charlotte Street, makes a left on Patton Avenue, and ends at French Broad Avenue.

Press Release

The 67th Annual Asheville Holiday Parade

This is the biggest parade yet with 101 entries, many following the theme “A Star is Born.” The Parade Grand Marshals are some of Asheville’s talented stars including Ann Dunn and several Nutcracker dancers of The Asheville Ballet, Eddie Foxx from 99.9 Kiss Country, Tammy Jones from Mix 96.5, star baritone Dominic Aquilino and soprano Kelli Mullinix of Asheville Lyric Opera, and young actors from “The Best Christmas Pageant” at Asheville Community Theatre. The Grand Marshal float is sponsored by Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community.

After many years, giant balloons will soar above the parade to add to the day’s excitement, along with eight marching bands, a variety of dance and cheer groups, dueling pianos, a skip rope team, and llamas, horses and unicycles to entertain the crowd. All leading up to the big finish, Santa Claus, sponsored by The Grove Arcade. For a full parade lineup, visit ashevilleparade.org.

Two of the big helium balloons in the parade, the “Happy Stars,” will be handled by volunteers from Toys for Tots with active Marines in dress uniform marching alongside. They will remind everyone to bring their donations of unwrapped toys to the Toys for Tots donation area at JingleFest. Parade organizers are hopeful that many people will bring a donation and this effort can become an annual tradition.

The festivities don’t stop with the parade. From 1-4pm, head over to Pack Square Park for more free, family fun at JingleFest. The non-stop stage show, emceed by actor/comedian Tom Chalmers, will feature some of the best acts in the parade. The show will kick off with a concert by Trinity Baptist Jubiliee Choir at 1pm and don’t miss the special holiday concert by Asheville Choral Society at 3pm. Kids can play on giant inflatables while waiting for Santa who should arrive about 2pm. Photographer Steve Barker will be on hand to snap digital photos of children with Santa for free.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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