One of the most beloved Christmas traditions in Coweta County is the annual downtown Christmas parade in Newnan. Every year, local businesses, churches, schools and other organizations display holiday floats and performances and march through downtown Newnan to a waiting crowd lining the streets. Santa ends the parade by riding into the city on a firetruck, officially marking the beginning of the holiday season.

Last year’s parade was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of presstime, the Newnan Christmas Parade, set for Dec. 11, is still a go.

The annual Christmas Parade has been part of the community for more than a century. Newnan held its first Holiday Carnival in December 1900. Planning for the event began in November that year when attendees of a local citizen’s meeting decided to stage a Free Street Fair and Carnival held over the course of four days in mid-December. The community simply wanted to take time to come together and celebrate.

The carnival featured a variety of attractions including a high-dive act, light show, vaudeville show, snake-handler acts, carnivalesque sideshows and a merry-go-round. While many of these early traditions have not carried through to modern times, some elements of the Christmas celebrations of yore are still part of our annual tradition, most notably, the parade.

The most anticipated aspect of the carnival festivities in 1900 was the Christmas parade. A committee of ladies was assembled to plan the parade, which kicked off the Holiday Carnival week. The Brilliant Floral Parade featured decorated carriages and floats and was led by Olive Dent who had been voted Queen of the Carnival. Parade participants congregated on Jackson Street and marched toward the square and down Greenville Street, and the best decorated float won a monetary prize.

Though parades had been held in Coweta County before 1900, this winter carnival seems to be the first documented Christmas parade in the county, and the Newnan Herald and Advertiser reported it as “surpassing anything of the kind ever seen in the city.”

Records indicate that the Christmas carnival and parade may have continued periodically after 1900 until the 1920s.

The modern iteration of the Christmas parade started about 1986 with creation of the Main Street program, though the exact date is uncertain due to incomplete or lost records. The Christmas parade grew in such popularity under Main Street that, in 2004, City Council developed the City of Newnan Christmas Committee to assist with planning and publicity of the annual parade. In 2014, the committee became the City of Newnan Christmas Commission. 

Norma Haynes, who served on the Christmas Commission for more than ten years, recalls her first experience helping to organize the Christmas parade. After the parade’s lengthy hiatus, the first one staged by the Christmas Commission was “pure magic,” she says. “From Day One, it was the most exciting, fun thing. It was amazing to see how many hundreds of people came to the parade and enjoyed it. It was a small-town event that I’ll never forget. It was wonderful.”

Today, the annual Christmas parade is planned by the City of Newnan under the direction of City of Newnan Christmas Parade Chair Page Beckwith, with assistance from the Christmas Commission whose members help choose the parade’s theme and the grand marshal. Past parade themes have included Christmas Around the World, Christmas Movies and Home for the Holidays. The grand marshal is traditionally a prominent member of the community who has made a particular contribution within the past 12 months. In recent years, grand marshals who have led the parade include Bill and Anita Headley, former Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager, and David and Rosalyn Boyd.

Since 2014, the Christmas parade has been held at night on the second Saturday of December. This year's parade will start on Greenville Street moving north, turn left on North Court Square, turn left and head south on LaGrange Street, and end at Newnan High School. Businesses, schools, nonprofits, churches and other organizations pre-register to participate in the event and spend weeks building their floats in hopes of spreading holiday cheer and the opportunity to win a monetary prize. Each year, the parade has grown. The 2019 edition had the largest number of participating organizations with 95 groups taking part.

Last year, due to the pandemic, the annual parade was called off for the first time in recent decades. In lieu of the parade, Santa and Mrs. Claus took neighborhood riding tours around the city with the fire department, police department and the Newnan trolley joining the tours.

This year’s parade is set for December 11 beginning at 6 p.m. The 2021 theme is Parade of Lights, and recently retired Newnan Police Chief  D.L. “Buster” Meadows will serve as the grand marshal.

For many citizens like Haynes, the return of the Christmas parade brings back a sense of tradition and hope.

“As far as I’m concerned, the parade is what brings in our Christmas, and it brings our community together so beautifully,” she says. “It takes you away from things that aren’t so pleasant. It reminds you of what the Christmas season is all about and brings everyone together from all walks and all stages of life.”

About the Christmas Commission

On April 27, 2004, the Newnan City Council established The City of Newnan Christmas Committee to gain more citizen involvement in planning the local Christmas season celebration.

According to Haynes, the group’s first task was to help the City of Newnan decorate downtown, which eventually involved construction of a sleigh and the decorating of a large Christmas tree set up each year. In addition, the group ensured that every letter written to Santa and placed in the mailbox downtown was read and answered.

On Nov. 18, 2014, the Christmas Committee was established as a permanent commission. The City of Newnan Christmas Commission was charged with planning and sponsoring events for the Christmas holiday season.

Working closely with the City Council, the Christmas Commission has three main functions: 1) to develop and present plans for Christmas season events by August 1 of each year, 2) to assist and coordinate activities with the City staff and public, and 3) to review and recommend types and placement of holiday decorations in Newnan.

This Christmas season, the Commission’s exciting new project is decorating the roundabouts on McIntosh Parkway, East Broad Street and MLK Jr. Drive. All the chosen roundabouts lead to downtown, and the goal of the project is to bring Christmas spirit to citizens as they drive into the area.

“The commission is super excited about adding some extra holiday cheer,” says Beckwith.

Each roundabout will be decorated based on its greenery and will feature different designs. Newnan Utilities, which already works closely with the City to help with the Christmas decorating, will be instrumental in this project as well. They installed power to the roundabout areas and will help with the installation, according to Beckwith.

In the future, the Christmas Commission plans to add more decorations and expand lighting to more roundabouts.

Serving on the 2021 Christmas Commission are Pam Anderson, Linda Arnall, Kenya Brantley, Jane Clifford, Val Cranford and Nancy Telle. NCM