Wilmimgton – The Wilmington Jaycees’ 54th Annual Christmas Parade will be held on Saturday, November 25 in downtown Wilmington at 11:00 a.m. For the ninth consecutive year, the Jaycees are holding the Parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in conjunction with Small Business Saturday, an American shopping holiday first observed in the U.S. on November 27, 2010 which encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are both small and local.
This annual Wilmington tradition – which features local celebrities and dignitaries, marching and string bands, statewide pageant winners, dance troupes, floats and antique cars, cartoon characters and much more – kicks off the holiday shopping season and is a great community-building event in the City. Mayor Purzycki will lead the parade atop the Patriotic Float.
The “star of the show,” as always, will be Santa Claus. Children at the parade are encouraged to write a letter to Santa and drop it off when Santa passes along the parade route. (Children should provide their complete mailing address, including zip code, if they would like a reply.) The Wilmington Jaycees will work with Santa and his elves to make every effort to answer each letter.
The parade will begin at 4th and Market Streets and proceed north along Market Street to 11th Street (Rodney Square). It will then travel east on 11th Street to King Street, continue south on King Street and return to 4th Street.
The Wilmington Jaycees is a community, individual, and leadership development organization for individuals ages 21-40. The Jaycees are a proactive organization whose members devote themselves to community service in the public interest, to increasing and improving the skills of the individual, and to developing people as leaders of their community. The Wilmington Jaycees celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2016!
Road closures and parking restrictions on the parade route will be in effect from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 1:00 p.m. All vehicles will be restricted from using Market Street (between 3rd and 11th Streets), King Street (between 3rd and 11th Streets) and the cross streets from 3rd to 11th Streets, between Shipley and King Streets.