As the holiday season quickly approaches, it's reassuring to know that the annual Tyler Christmas Parade is going to happen this year.

Since mid-March the coronavirus has taken many events away from East Texans. We were not able to participate in annual events like Red Dirt BBQ + Music Festival, the Komen walk, the East Texas fair, the Rose Festival and we were denied movies in the park at Bergfeld Park in Tyler. We miss our local events. It's with good news that we get to tell you that the annual Tyler Rotary Christmas Parade is going to happen this year!

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The parade is going to happen on Saturday, December 5th 10 a.m.to 11:30 a.m. , but there are going to be changes though as participants take precautions and comply with COVID-19 protocols and social distancing guidelines. The parade this year is going to be a 'reverse parade'. You might be thinking, what in the heck is a 'reverse parade'. Well, instead of you sitting on the curb and watching the floats, bands, drill teams, civic groups, political officials and commercial businesses go by, you'll be the one going by them!

All parade entrants will be stationary along the traditional parade route and parade attendees will have the option to drive the parade route in their own vehicle or attendees may walk the route along the sidewalk. You'll get to see all the floats, hear all the bands, see the drill teams along with first responders, politicians and even Santa Claus at the end of the parade route.

The parade can't get underway though without participants and right now the Rotary Club of Tyler is accepting applications from businesses, groups, schools and others who would like to participate in first ever Tyler Christmas Reverse Parade. So if your organization would like to participate, you'll need to obtain an application and submit it.

The Rotary Club Of Tyler has selected a theme of 'Together We Are Rose City Strong' and they are seeking the publics input on the parade logo this year. The parade logo will also appear on masks that will be handed out by Santa. If you're the creative type and would like to submit a logo design for the parade this year, see the criteria list below..

We're not going to let the pandemic take our holiday cheer or tradition away from us. We'll have a great time celebrating the holidays together properly socially distanced and masked up.

Rotary Club Of Tyler Christmas Parade Logo Contest criteria:
• Represents this year’s parade theme, “Together, We are Rose City Strong.”
• The logo should have the year 2020 on it.
• All artwork must be original, absolutely no clipart or elements that look like clip art.
• Special consideration will be given to workable hand-drawn artwork.
• A maximum of four colors may be used in the design; this includes black and white.
• Lettering must be correct and easy to read.
• Entries will need to be submitted in a digital format or photo format and sent to RCOTChristmasParade@gmail.com

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