SEVEN SPRINGS — A decades-old tradition will continue this Saturday at 3 p.m. when the first parade of the Christmas season is held in the town of Seven Springs.
The parade will be followed by the town’s Trim-the-Tree ceremony at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, at Granddaughter’s Venue on Main Street.
The two events also are providing an opportunity for residents to help area children have a brighter Christmas.
“I am asking that for the parade and the Trim-the-Tree, if anybody wants to bring a new unwrapped toy, please do so,” Mayor Ronda Hughes said. “They can drop it off at my store, Neuse River Trading Co.
“We are collecting them for a local school to help with the less-fortunate children for Christmas.”
If you fail to register an entry prior to Saturday, there is no need to worry — just show up and organizers will find a place for you, said Hughes, who has headed up the parade since about 2012.
People who show up late without pre-entering can “fall into place,” Hughes noted.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” she added.
The parade will line up on the Neuse River Bridge beginning at 2 p.m. and will step off at 3 p.m. winding its way through town.
There is no registration fee.
To place an entry, call or text Hughes at 919-222-9290.
“I will call people that are in it and give them their (line-up) numbers,” Hughes said. “There will be people there to help them find their spots.”
While there is no entry fee, candy may be thrown from entries.
The candy is a tradition at the parade where children, and adults, show up armed with plastic bags to scoop up the mounds of candy tossed out during the parade.
Normally, so much candy is tossed out that after the parade the route is covered in candies that fell too close to entries and were run over by vehicles or stepped on by marchers in the parade.
Last’s year parade boasted more than 100 units, Hughes said.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard will lead the parade.
The Southern Wayne and Spring Creek high school bands will perform and Santa will be there as well.
Trim-the-Tree
The annual Trim-the-Tree event has a special meaning for Hughes and the town.
The town was left devastated in October 2016 following historic flooding of the Neuse River in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
The parade was canceled that year. However, the artificial tree the town had been using for the Trim-the-Tree program was salvaged from the floodwaters.
The ornaments were stored high enough to escape the floodwaters.
Despite the damage to the town, the tree trimming was moved from downtown near the Neuse River to the Seven Springs Baptist Church fellowship hall.
It was important to have the event that year because people who had lost their homes to the flood were so spread out, Hughes attested.
“It was just so important that everybody had a common meeting place where we could get together and celebrate something,” she stressed.
A new tree was purchased several years ago, but some of the pre-flood ornaments are still in use.
“There will food and music and Santa,” she said. “People will help decorate the community tree.”
The event is open to the public.
Those attending can bring their own ornaments and personalize them, she said.
“We will have some there in case someone wants to get some of them and write on them,” Hughes said.
