Downtown Ellijay’s popular Christmas parade and visit from Santa is back on track this year, following an absence from the town square in 2020.
Light Up Ellijay festivities will take place the day after Thanksgiving — Friday, Nov. 26 — beginning at 6 p.m.
The upcoming program’s schedule will differ a bit from previous years when the tree lighting ceremony followed the parade.
This year, the downtown square Christmas tree will be the beginning of the parade, said Pam Burns, event coordinator.
“After it was suggested, we are trying something new, but we need to let people know,” she added.
Santa visits will take place from 2-6 p.m. in front of the Gilmer County Courthouse. Event vendors will also be set up along Broad Street, Burns said.
“We’ll have a different Santa in the parade,” she added. “The Santa who’s downtown in the afternoon will light the tree at the beginning of the parade instead of the Santa in the parade lighting it at the end.”
The parade’s grand marshal will be Kristy Lindstrom, host of ETC-3 program “Talk of the Town.”
The Dickens Mountain Carolers, a north Georgia area caroling group, will be strolling and singing through downtown dressed in Dickens-era costumes starting around 4 p.m., Burns noted.
Parade participants still have until Monday, Nov. 22, to sign up. There is a $35 fee to be in the parade. Parade, vendor and event sponsor applications are all available at the Gilmer Arts Gallery, 207 Dalton Street.