🎄Nashville History: The Christmas Parade

🎅 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays -

Nashville’s Christmas Parade, which started in 1927 and was last held in 2019, was shut down due to COVID-19. This ended a long history of a parade that many locals and tourists loved. The original parade went down Church Street but was changed to Broadway in 1958 where it was held until the end. The largest attendance on record was in 1951 with a whopping 400,000 people.

Over the years, many celebrities and entertainers have been Grand Marshalls including Kelly Clarkson, Roy Acuff, Vince Gill, Charley Pride, Joe Diffie, and Charlie Daniels to name a few. In 1956, it was rumored that Elvis would appear and while 200,000 people anxiously awaited his arrival, he never showed.

There is discussion about the parade coming back but concerns about safety and funding have derailed any of these talks. Should Nashville bring back this tradition or are parades a thing of the past?

📚 More info here: https://nashvillechristmasparade.com/parade-history/

Hueston Nelson | Publisher | The Nashville Grapevine