Faison’s Main Street will not be this quiet at 11 a.m. on March 25 when the Farmers’ Parade rolls through town.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Faison Improvement Group urging participation in parade, other community events
FAISON — The town’s Farmers’ Parade is scheduled for 11 a.m. on March 25, and there are two ways in which community members can help ensure its success.
“We need people to be in the parade, and we need people to come out and watch it,” says Andrew Taylor, president of the Faison Improvement Group (FIG), the organization sponsoring the parade.
“This will be the first parade in Faison since 2020,” says Taylor. “Our goal is to begin having more annual events such as the parade. We believe that if this parade is a successful community event that we may consider bringing back the Market Day Festival.”
For several years, Faison held an annual Market Day Festival every October. But, says Taylor, “It takes a lot of work to do a festival,” and a shortage of volunteers, together with the many challenges brought about by Covid, meant an end to the festival.
FIG member Melba Brewer describes the Farmers’ Parade as “a spin-off from the idea of Market Day. We thought this was just a way, maybe, to get back into having something in Faison because we haven’t had anything [in a while].”
The official purpose of the parade is “to honor our Faison farmers, farm families, and farm workers,” says Taylor. However, this does not mean that parade entries must be agriculture-related.
Already, in addition to vintage and current farming equipment, other expected parade participants include the 24K Cowgirls Equestrian Drill Team (out of Goldsboro), local beauty queens (sponsored by event venue Tara Creek), local government officials, and vintage cars. Several tractor-trailer owners are planning to drive their tractors (sans trailers) down the Main Street parade route, and a pet-grooming van will also be in the parade (with the possibility of people walking their pets behind the van, a sort of “pet parade,” Brewer says).
At least one food truck will be in attendance, and there will be musical entertainment, as well. “We’re really going to have something for everybody,” Brewer says.
Despite a number of individuals and groups having already signed up to be in the parade, FIG members are seeking additional entrants. Anyone interested is asked to sign up by March 13; no entry fee is being charged. Contact Melba Brewer at 910-990-4665 or Andrew Taylor at faisonimprovementgroup@gmail.com for entry forms and additional information.
Both Taylor and Brewer emphasize the importance of community support for this parade and for potential future events. “FIG is going strong, but we need more people,” says Taylor. “We need manpower.”
Anyone interested in becoming more involved in community events is encouraged to attend FIG meetings, which are held the last Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Anne Stroud Taylor Recreation and Wellness Center classroom. For more information, contact Taylor at the email address listed above.
