The Annual Christmas Parade
I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Monett, Missouri.
I see the marching band that I used to play trombone in, and I don’t recognize any faces. I see the younger siblings of my old friends in the running for Miss Merry Christmas. I see some pretty elaborate floats and some floats that are hay bales on a trailer, but I don’t think the kids here see a difference – everyone has candy. I see the tall buildings that have remained vacant downtown for decades and a coworking space and a brewpub we apparently have now and a lot of trucks – fire trucks, tow trucks, a small monster truck, all blaring their horns in what I assume is an organized attempt to clip my mic.
I wanted to learn more about how the Monett Christmas Parade operates, so a few days before I came home I talked to Jasmine Burks, who works at the Chamber of Commerce and was in charge of the parade – this was actually her first year.
The process started in late October/early November with Burks reaching out to last years’ participants – they got first dibs. Burks also reached out to area schools at this time, including Monett, but also Pierce City, Purdy and Mt. Vernon. Then submissions opened up to the public.
"We said we were going to cap it at 75 this year – definitely did not," Burks admitted. "We always end up getting, you know, stragglers afterwards. I’ve actually had six people sign up yesterday [the fifth of December]."
Everyone was emailed their number ahead of time. Those numbers were divided into four sections, with lineup times for each section staggered by fifteen minutes to prevent congestion. And that lineup itself seems like sort of a puzzle. As Burks explained:
"The police and the Fire Department, your auxiliary from like, the VFW here in town – those are all going to be at the beginning of the parade. And then, to keep your parade interesting, you also want to make sure that you have good 'performing floats' scattered throughout, that way not all of them are in the front of your parade. Otherwise, it can get boring and people are going to leave. Same thing with the grouping of the cars… same thing with bands… And the horses, it just really comes down to, you know, the mess that they tend to make."
There are also the awards. They include 'Santa’s Pick' (best overall), 'Jingle Bell Rock' (the best band), 'Community Spirit,' 'Most Festive' and 'Best Holiday Theme.'
The Festival of Lights
While in town, I also drove through the light display that goes up every year in the park. I was curious to learn about the process behind this other local tradition, and fortunately, Burks is in charge of it, too.
"The city, they’re the ones who store all the decorations," Burks explained. "So, every year in November they’ll get those out, and then they’ll put them throughout the park. We have a map that’s in place from previous years that we go off of."
Right now, the park is at capacity, so that map is pretty much fixed. But if somebody did want to sponsor a light display, it would not be cheap:
"I think when I was looking at things yesterday, the cheapest I could find was around $2-3,000," said Burks. "And that’s just for something small."
But back to the setup process. Burks told me that "from there, our electrician that we’ve hired will go around, turn the lights on, see what needs to be fixed. Sometimes they have issues in storage, just from mice, for example… And then we do a run through making sure everything is working great the day before we open."
And the total cost of the event?
"I’d say it probably costs us around $10,000."
"Wow." I'm genuinely surprised at that figure.
Burks does me one better: "The candy canes alone are several thousand dollars."
Those candy canes are distributed by the volunteers of the Elf Hut, who also kindly ask for donations. I did it myself once or twice as a Boy Scout, but for many people it’s habitual.
"It fills up fast," Burks told me. "A lot of people have been doing it for 10, 15-plus years."
I had made plans to set up at the Elf Hut with a recorder for a while. But there was a miscommunication on my part, so, long story short, I ended up walking up to the folks volunteering that night and saying 'hi, I’m Ben, you don’t know me, I’m from here, I work at the public radio station up in Springfield. Can I record you for a while?’
Luckily, the Vaughns were all gracious towards me, and I got to spend some time with the family while they did their thing. There were three kids running around. Some of them were very excited about the complimentary hot chocolate. Another was very focused on the hand counter, emphatically yelling the total number whenever it went up - "16!"
From what I saw, nightly attendance has mostly sat in the upper 200 or so, but last week there was an evening where over 500 people came through. Assuming a conservative estimate of three people per car, that’s like, 1,500 candy canes.
At one point, a woman with a couple of kids comes through. She doesn't have any cash to give and feels a bit awkward about it, but that's no matter – they ask how many candy canes she wants. Three, she says.
"Not a lot of people want to or can afford to drive to Springfield to go look at lights, and stuff like that," Burks told me at the end of our conversation. "It’s just not always feasible. So, being able to bring to your community something to look forward to, something that’s free, something that benefits the kids – that’s something that I think is special."