Fielder’s Choice

In the past 35 years, during most of the Christmas parades I’ve attended, I’ve been taking photos.

Early last week, Christy Owens, executive director of the Holly Springs Main Street Chamber, asked me if I’d be a co-emcee for this year’s holiday parade with Sharon White.

My answer – “I will be glad to if I can get someone to take photos. Give me a day or two.”

Everyone’s busy this time of year. Dillon Day came through in the clutch for me, despite studying for exams as part of his classes at the University of Mississippi.

“I’ll make it work,” he told me via text on Thursday. “I’ll shoot it for you. It’ll give me a break from studying.”

I then started looking forward to Saturday evening and sharing the stage and microphone with Sharon. She and her husband Lawrence are two special people and good friends. I got to know them not long after moving to Holly Springs 18 years ago. Lawrence, at that time, processed film for me before all our photos went digital. He also helped shoot a lot of photos for The South Reporter.

I had not seen Sharon in awhile, and it was great to get started Saturday by sharing a big hug.

Christy met us about 4:30 p.m. and went over the gameplan.

The parade, due to a few snags as far as traffic and getting lined up, was a little later than 5 p.m. starting.

And as it turned out, Sharon and I had to “wing it” quite a bit. Things didn’t quite fall into place for us as far as getting the entry forms in order and having the correct information in front of us for each entry as it rolled past the stage.

But we did the best we could, and all in all, I told Christy, “I think it was one of the best parades ever.”

The weather was perfect. The crowd was great, and as I told everyone from the stage, I couldn’t see behind us on the square or along the adjacent streets.

I was largely judging that based on the traffic downtown ahead of time, with folks trying to find parking places in the downtown area.

Parades, Christmas parades in particular, have long been something I’ve enjoyed.

I remember going to downtown Hamilton, Ala., often as a child and seeing how much candy I could take home. I recall the bands and the floats and that special visitor from the North Pole.

I’ve been to large parades and I’ve been to small ones. They’re all good – largely because they bring smiles to faces. They unite a community. They spread love and good cheer.

Those were some of the thoughts running through my head Saturday evening as Sharon and I had tons of fun emceeing the Holly Springs Christmas Parade.

Hopefully, we can all put any worries and stress aside at Christmastime and celebrate the season.

Next week, The South Reporter will publish its Christmas edition, complete with Letters to Santa and holiday ads from businesses, elected officials, industries and more.

Santa was on hand for Saturday’s Christmas parade, riding atop the Holly Springs Fire Department truck.

I saw children’s faces light up as he neared and waved. As the song says, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”