By Andy Diffenderfer
Correspondent
Walker County and its cities are offering plenty of opportunities to ring in the holiday season with parades, tours and other festive events.
* The Rossville Down Home Christmas parade will be Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. The parade will honor service members and the late City Councilman Nathan Bain, who died July 21 of cancer. His widow, Maxine, will be the parade grand marshal. All present and past members of the military are encouraged to participate.
The parade route will run from the corner of Lake and McFarland avenues, south on McFarland to Ellis Road, and end at Rossville City Park. Organizations wishing to participate may call 423-463-4461 or e-mail RossvilleAthletics@gmail.com.
* LaFayette’s holiday parade, “It’s a Magical Christmas,” is set for Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
First-, second- and third-place cash prizes will be given to the best-decorated floats in church/individual and business categories. Download the registration form at www.cityoflafayettega.org. Forms can be mailed to LaFayette Recreation Department, P.O. Box 189, LaFayette, GA 30728; faxed to 706-639-0403; or scanned and e-mailed to recdept@cityoflafayettega.org. The deadline is Nov. 29.
* After the parade, LaFayette will unveil its third annual “Amazing Christmas” lights in Joe Stock Memorial Park. Spectators can enjoy the musical light show daily 6 to 10 p.m. through Jan. 2 at the park on North Main Street. They can tune their car radios to a designated station to hear music that goes along with the light show.
“Over 200,000 lights and songs with dancing color arrangements will provide entertainment for the entire family,” said LaFayette Parks and Recreation Director Patti Scott.
For more information, call the LaFayette Recreation Department at 706-639-1590.
* The Gordon-Lee Mansion will have Christmas candlelight tours on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 from 5-9 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $1 for children 12 and younger. Admission includes a tour, musical entertainment, homemade cookies and hot apple cider.
* Christmas candlelight tours at the Marsh House in LaFayette will be Dec. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m., and Dec. 12 from 4 to 8 p.m.
The antebellum home, located on North Main Street, will be decorated with live greenery, berries and cedar trees and will have a live Nativity scene. Visitors will be able to enjoy cookies and hot cider at the end of the tour. Daily life activities and chores will be carried on in most rooms as the tours will “try to depict what life would have been like in the mid-1800s,” events coordinator Mary Smitherman said.
Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors 65 and older, $1 for children ages 6-12 and free for children ages 5 and younger. For more information, call Smitherman at 423-718-9918.
* Chickamauga and its downtown merchants will be decked out in their holiday finest for the “Christmas in the Streets” celebration on Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The day will feature food vendors, live entertainment and a parade. For parade information, call Chickamauga Downtown Merchants Association President Beth Powell at 423-413-7941.
Andy Diffenderfer is based in LaFayette, Ga. Contact him at andydiff97@comcast.net.