Private Citizens, City Working on Resurrecting Christmas Parade

Efforts are underway by private citizens and city officials to have a Christmas parade in the city.

Earlier this week a group of private citizens began discussing the prospect of having a parade after Saturday’s East Ridge Christmas Parade was cancelled due to threatening weather. It was the first time in the event’s decades-long history that it was forced to be called off.

On Tuesday, Brian Scott reached out to East Ridge News Online saying that he, Robert Padgett and a handful of others have contacted people and organizations that had entered floats in the original parade. He intends to have an organizational meeting with interested parties at 6 p.m. Monday evening at the Community Center on Tombras Avenue.

Scott said that he has solid commitments from 25 people/organizations for a rescheduled parade, including a Boy Scout Troop and American Legion Post 95. He said that a handful of others, the Shriner’s and a local Corvette Club, would like to participate if there are no conflicts in scheduling.

City Manager Scott Miller said that he is working with Parks & Recreation Director Stump Martin on plans to facilitate plans for the parade on Camp Jordan Parkway on Friday, Dec. 8. Miller said the parade route would begin north of Bass Pro Shops and proceed to the amphitheater inside Camp Jordan Park where there could be additional entertainment in a festive environment.

Miller said details could be finalized by the middle of next week.

Scott said anyone interested in participating is urged to contact him at 423-394-4859 or through his email at Eastridgeelectric@yahoo.com.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.