Plan early for Saturday afternoon travel

The 2009 edition of the Madison-Mayodan Jaycees Christmas Parade begins winding its way from the Main Street Park in Mayodan to the Madison Town Clock at 1 p.m. Saturday.

As the 29th annual procession moves from town to town, timing becomes a critical element for both spectators and police officers.

“Basically, it’s just a matter of planning ahead to be where you want to be between 1 p.m. and about 3:30 p.m. Saturday,” said Madison Police Chief Perry Webster.

Officers from Madison and Mayodan will roll roadblocks along the route of the parade from start to finish. Webster said people should remember that a lot of streets will be closed off during that time and make arrangements to avoid those areas.

“If you have something to do in that area Saturday, plan to finish before noon or wait until about 4 to keep from being caught in all that traffic,” he said.

As usual, McMichael High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC Color Guard will lead the procession as it marches down the hill on Main Street in Mayodan to make the first turn onto Second Avenue. The parade route works its way south from Second Avenue to Highway Street to Decatur Street before turning right onto Franklin Street in Madison. One block later, it turns left onto Murphy Street and ends at the town clock.

Mayodan Police Chief Jim Bullins said Main Street would be blocked off at Seventh Avenue around 12:30 p.m. Saturday to allow parade participants to line up for the 1 p.m. start.

“The Second Avenue stretch from Main Street toward Madison will be blocked off just before the parade gets underway,” Bullins said. “Then the roadblocks will keep rolling ahead of the lead units all the way to the end. We’ll open up the roads as soon as we can after the last units roll through.”

Webster said officers would close off the area around the parade’s ending point to prevent a bottleneck.

“We’re going to try to keep the end of the parade from backing up the rest of the procession this year by asking parents picking up children to wait for them along Dalton Street and tie up the end of the route,” Webster said.

This year’s top honor of Grand Marshal goes to a group of local celebrities – the 2009 state champion McMichael baseball team.

“We wanted the players and coaches to know how proud we were of their accomplishment,” said Jaycees spokesperson Roberto de la Cruz. “They all worked hard to bring home that honor and they really deserve to be recognized for it.”

The Phoenix squad will hold a place of honor in a parade that also includes mayors and councilmen from Madison, Mayodan and Stoneville, county commissioners, Sheriff Sam Page and local beauty queens and princesses. In addition to the normal professional and homemade floats, the parade consists of several local dance teams, antique cars and trucks, and plenty of horses and riders.

But, as always, the parade would never be the same without the traditional guest of honor – Santa Claus – bringing it all to a close.

For additional information concerning Saturday’s parade, contact Crockett Saunders at (336) 949-4510 or Roberto de la Cruz at (336) 552-6225.