Claiborne Parish
Christmas parade slated for Nov. 28
The annual Christmas parade will be held Saturday, November 28, at 5 p.m. Lineup will be at Homer High School at 4 p.m., and we really want folks to light up their floats!
The Square will be lit up the night before the parade.
There’s still time to enter a float for any group who has not. Just return the form in this week’s edition of The Guardian-Journal to P.O. Box 367, Homer, LA 71040. All groups are welcome. Whatever form of transportation you wish to use is your choice, but it must be safe.
Unfortunately, there will be no Christmas festival this year. Due to the unpredictability of the weather, the Christmas Festival Committee made the decision to not have the festival. However, Santa will not only be rolling in at the Christmas parade, but he will come by train.
The L&NW Santa Train, Santa’s favorite way to travel when he visits the good boys and girls in Louisiana and Arkansas, will be making a scheduled stop in the area on December 12, 2009.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be making an early Christmas arrival this year along the L&NW rail route between Gibsland, Louisiana and McNeil, Arkansas.
His arrival will give area children one last opportunity before Christmas to get their wish lists given to Santa, and it will give parents the opportunity to take some great holiday photographs and have one made with Santa, with the proceeds being donated to DART.
Mark December 12 on the calendar to make sure the kids get to visit with Santa during his stop in area towns.
The 2009 L&NW Santa Train is making its debut this year across North Louisiana and Southern Arkansas, carrying Santa to four towns in Louisiana and three towns in Arkansas.
The train will be making stops in Gibsland, Athens, Homer and Haynesville in Louisiana and Emerson, McNeil and Magnolia in Arkansas.
The Santa train is expected to arrive in Athens at 10:45. It will then travel on to Homer and make its stop at Delta Interiors at approximately 11:30.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be escorted to the front of the Delta Interiors building, where a special place will be set up for them.
All children will have a chance to win a Lionel electric train that is being donated by the L&NW Railroad. Santa will be bringing gifts from his workshop for each good little boy and girl.
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
“We are so thrilled to have such an excellent event for the Town and are enthused about the L&NW and their involvement in the community,” Homer Mayor David Newell said about the event. “I am in 100 percent support of the event.”
The Claiborne Parish DART (Domestic Abuse Resistance Team) will also have a booth in the parking lot to sell lollipops for one dollar.
After leaving Homer, the train will make its next stop in Haynesville around 12:40 and that location will be announced at a later date, also.
Santa and his elves are busy getting ready for Christmas. Help them out by e-mailing Santa a letter this year by visiting the L&NW Santa Train website at the site listed below.
Also, after writing Santa a list, check out Santa’s blog to see some of the letters he has already received this year. Your letter might be published next.
Area businesses that are helping to sponsor this exciting event are L&NW Railroad, the Town of Homer, Insurance Consultants, Claiborne Electric, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Minden, Homer Lions Club, Frito Lay, Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Department, DART and Delta Interiors.
Please come out and enjoy the day as many more exciting things will be happening, too.
For more information or to enter a float for the parade, call Melissa Smith at 927-2046, ext. 208, or Vanessa Efferson at 927-9555.
