Each winter, when the holiday season rolls around, people find new and exciting ways to experience the magic of Christmas. Though fun can be found in checking out a new city or delighting in a new experience, there is something uniquely special about the magic of home this time of year.

And when the magic of home is coupled with the sentimentality of tradition, it can create an event like no other and swell the hearts of a community and bring out the best in people.

Covington has found a way to combine the magic of being home with the sweet sentiments of tradition in its annual Christmas Parade.

“This is community,” said Ken Malcom, tourism and downtown development director for the City of Covington. “This is an example of community, that so many great organizations, groups, churches, businesses, nonprofits that all come together and celebrate. This is a tradition longer than I can remember, and this is my 39th parade.”

On the morning of Dec. 6, the Covington Christmas Parade started at Legion Field rolled across the city’s downtown. The Square and surrounding streets were a sea of rainbow umbrellas, plastic ponchos and winter coats.

Despite the chill in the air and the light drizzle that remained on and off throughout the procession, a heavy holiday spirit remained intact in the lively crowd.

“I can compare the parade attendance to last year, and we actually had worse weather this year than we did last year, but we had a larger crowd this year,” Malcom said. 

Malcom said that local interest in participating each year is always off the charts. Regular participants have come to know that the city usually begins accepting sign-ups around Labor Day, and the slots can fill up quickly.

With so much interest, the city has come to limit the number of floats to 100. But a running waitlist ensures that if anyone drops out, someone eager to fill their place gets the chance.

“We have a number of people or organizations we have to turn down each year because they just, they applied late and they just didn’t get in,” Malcom said. “I can’t tell you how many we had to turn away this year.”

With the not-so-ideal weather this year, some groups chose not to participate. Malcom estimates that there were about 75 community floats in the parade, and with the inclusion of all the public safety and government floats, the grand total was likely around 90.

Even with the weather-induced absences, the parade remained a lengthy procession. Despite beginning at 10 a.m., floats were still passing through the Square over an hour later.

The wealth of participants included all three of Newton County Schools’ high school marching bands, city and county public safety crews, numerous scouts, local dance and arts groups, several churches, county-area sports teams of all ages, nonprofits of all sorts and more.

“I was very pleased, even though we did have some light rain during portions of the parade,” Malcom said. “We were able to move forward, and it was a great morning.”

Photo Gallery by Michael Bandoo | The Covington News