WESTSIDE — Plans for the Gravette and Decatur Christmas parades have been announced.

Gravette’s annual Christmas parade will be held the second Saturday in December, December 11, according to Dan Yates, President of the Gravette Chamber of Commerce.

The parade will assemble at its usual place, along Charlotte Street, shortly before noon. It will then make its way north on Highway 59 to Main Street and east on Main.

Floats by churches, organizations and businesses are being encouraged to make this the best Christmas parade ever.

The High School band has already confirmed they will participate and following the parade they will make a trip to Tulsa where they will be a part of that city’s celebration.

Santa Claus will arrive at the end of the parade and it is expected he will meet with area children somewhere in the downtown area.

Decatur

The annual Decatur Christmas parade will be held at 6 p.m., Dec. 10, Chamber of Commerce members decided at their last meeting.

The theme of this year’s parade will be “A Country Christmas.” School and non-profit organizations entering floats in the parade will receive a cash prize for the bestfloat. The first place prize will be $200 and the second place prize will be $100.

Amy Mitchell reported the Decatur General Store will be open during and after the parade, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., for a special customer appreciation night.

Children can visit Santa Claus after the parade, and the Decatur Fire Department will be taking children’s pictures with Santa this year. The fire department will be using two digital cameras and printers to take the pictures, fire chief David Flynt reported.

The Chamber of Commerce also made plans to put together goody bags for the children with candy, apples and oranges.

News, Pages 14 on 10/20/2010