DUMFRIES, Va. – The 42nd annual Dumfries Christmas Parade begins Saturday at noon.
More than 60 floats, businesses, and community organizations will march on the parade route that winds from Town Hall down Main Street, left on Graham Park Drive, and then into Dumfries Plaza on Fraley Boulevard.
Main Street (Route 1 South) will close to traffic at 10 a.m. to allow parade participants to line up near Town Hall. All southbound traffic will be diverted onto the northbound portion of Route 1, which will become a two-way street with one northbound lane and one southbound lane.
Fraley Boulevard (Route 1 north) is expected to close about 12:30 p.m. as the parade crosses that portion of the road. All of Route 1 in Dumfries will then be closed for the parade but is expected to be reopened to all traffic after the parade concludes.
Drivers not headed to the parade should take Interstate 95. Drivers headed to the parade may park in various parking lots and shopping centers in town.
Volunteers for the parade may park at Dumfries Elementary School, located at 3990 Cameron Street in Dumfries. Volunteers and parade participants were issued red passes to show to police to gain access to the closed portion of Route 1 to get to the parade parking and staging areas.
Ed and Thelma McGlothlin will be the Grand Marshall’s of this year’s parade. Both served on the Dumfries Town Council and live on Main Street.
“Our Town Council voted unanimously to ask them to serve as Grand Marshall’s for our parade,” said Community Services Director Brittany Heine.
A parade reviewing stand will be located just south of Town Hall. Unlike in year’s past, performing groups will not stop in front of the reviewing stand to perform but will continue walking so as to not slow the progression of the parade, said Heine.
Following the parade, Mayor Jerry Foreman will light the town Christmas Tree at Town Hall at 5 p.m. The ceremony will include a performance by the Dumfries Elementary School Chorus, tree decorating, and the arrival of Santa.
On December 17, volunteers will take children-in-need shopping for Christmas gifts at a nearby Walmart store.
