Published: December 05, 2008 05:13 pm         

Brownsburg hosts winter parade

BROWNSBURG — The Parks and Recreation Department here has been busy since June setting up for the seventh annual Christmas Under the Stars nighttime parade and winter wonderland.

The parade will begin at 6 p.m. today at Arbukcle Acres Park. Melanie Myers, assistant director of the parks department, said the parade follows the same route as last year, just in reverse. It begins in the park and heads south on Green Street, east on Main Street (U.S. 136), south on Eastern Avenue, and ends at the entrance of the Brownsburg Community and Recreation Center, 111 Eastern Ave.

Myers said the parade is usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but as attendance had been low in the past, they decided to move it to the first weekend in December.

“It has always been the Saturday after Thanksgiving but attendance was kind of low and we thought maybe people were out of town for the big holiday weekend,” Myers said. “We’re attempting to move it, in hopes that more people attend and we’re anticipating (a large crowd), if the weather cooperates with us.”

This will also be the first year for the winter wonderland activities after the parade. Doors open for the activities at 7 p.m. at the recreation center and will include photos with Santa, games, prizes, concessions, crafts, and Christmas carolers.

“This is the first year we’ve done (winter wonderland),” Myers said. “It’s just a little extra festivities and inside we’ll have live entertainment ... also crafts and games for the kids with prizes, some concessions, and Santa will be there and there will be pictures with Santa available.”

The town has also been hosting an ornament contest at the Brownsburg Public Library to gear up for the parade and winter wonderland, as the winner of the contest will serve as the Junior Grand Marshall of the parade.

Cassie Ondrovic, an 11-year-old Brownsburg resident, won the ornament contest and will serve as the junior grand marshal for the parade. She will also be the one to flip the switch to turn on the lights of the Community Christmas Tree at the recreation center at the end of the parade.

Parade participants include representatives from the Brownsburg Fire Territory and Police Department, Carpenter Realtors, Wilkinson Insurance, the Murat Shrine, Showtime Dance Studio, Circle Center Corvette Club, an honor guard from the American Legion Post 331, and various Brownsburg families.

For more information, call the Brownsburg Parks and Recreation Department at 858-4172.

charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com

     

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.