By Becky Long
Publisher
The holiday spirit rolled into the streets of downtown Hayesville Saturday evening in the form of a record number of entries, big crowds along the route and an array of bright, colorful floats.
The procession for “Come on Down to Jingle Town” stretched farther than the eyes could see and the 50-ish temperature created a jolly atmosphere for the 37th annual event.
Floats gathered at the Clay County Courthouse Judicial Center prior to the parade where judging took place for floats, cars and horses.
Judges agreed their job was particularly tough this year, but here’s the final awards:
Mayor’s Choice, determined by Joe Slaton, was Mountain Harbour in the nonprofit category and Service Master with its Elf themed float in the for profit category.
Winning Best Overall Float was the Polar Express created by State Employees Credit Union. Best Faith Based Float went to Truett Student Ministries, Best Theme Float was won by Balloons by Nicole and Best Christmas Spirit went to Stefany Foley of Elf’s Village.
Terry Stroud took Best of Show in the car category with his Corvette and Kailyn Webb was presented the Best Show Horse award.
Clay County Progress sponsored the parade as it has the past 37 years and offered their thanks for the hard work that went into the entries, to the crowd who attended and to the many people who kept the parade safe and moving along including Clay County Fire & Rescue and Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Also thanks to Town Council member Harry Baughn who served a co-emcee for the event as he has for a number of years.
More photos and video of the parade can be viewed on the Progress Facebook page.