Image Credit: Cookeville Christmas Parade / Facebook & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
After the debacle of last year’s cancelled Christmas Parade in Cookeville, new organizers for this year’s event are playing it safe.
The group responsible for planning the “Remember the Reason” parade denied two applications for participation in the event, one from Upper Cumberland Pride, and the other from Putnam County Young Republicans.
Organizers said that the two groups were denied due to having a “special interest group designation.”
“Our goal from the beginning has been to point to others to the reason for the holiday that we are celebrating. We wanted to make much of the person of Jesus born in Bethlehem,” wrote organizers. “In efforts to minimize distraction from Him, we planned this event with stated prohibitions of special interest groups. Although we agree there is a time and an important role played by special interest groups, we didn’t think this is it.”
This year’s parade, scheduled for December 19th, will follow a downtown route beginning at 6th Street and North Washington Avenue as in years past and will conclude at Depot Street.
Those organizing the event this year stepped up in November after no plans had been put in place for the 2025 parade. Although a Christmas parade has been part of Cookeville’s history for generations, the last couple of years have given rise to controversy among community members with differing views on what should be included.
In the past, the annual parade has been hosted by the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, but the group backed out last year due to a controversy surrounding a Pride float that was disallowed in 2023. The parade committee took a last minute vote on whether to include Upper Cumberland Pride in the parade that year over concerns that the group’s appearance might not be family friendly.
In 2024, the chamber handed off the event’s organization to local churches – River Community Church of Cookeville and Life Church. In an effort to have a parade with Jesus as the focus for 2024, the two churches and Bluwaters Rentals formed the Cookeville Christian Christmas Parade, LLC, and announced the theme as “Celebrating the Light of CHRISTmas.”
Because the group was underwriting the parade, their application included a Statement of Faith which sparked backlash from progressive members of the community and spurred the group “Cookeville Inclusive” to start working on a rival event that one community member dubbed the “Holiday Gay Pride Parade of Cookeville.”
With local media outlets refusing to broadcast the parade organized by the local churches, the City of Cookeville, in conjunction with the mayor’s office, wrestled responsibility for the event away from the Christian organizers and created a new parade committee which included some of Cookeville’s self-identified witches.
Sam Raper, President of Cookeville Inclusive, who led the charge for an alternative parade and was later given a seat on the parade committee last year is now running for a seat on the city council.
While Upper Cumberland Pride said that the float they had planned centered community and family with traditional decorations, the group was behind a drag show held on Tennessee Tech’s campus in 2022 where children were present and handed cash to a man dressed up as a Catholic nun who then proceeded to strip off his clothes.
Amid the uncertainty of last year’s parade, eighteen local churches came together to plan a “birthday party” for Jesus.
The family-friendly event celebrating the birth of Christ was the brainchild of local Pastor’s wife Kelly Parkinson whose family has always had a birthday party for Jesus as part of their Christmas traditions.
Last year, the event took place in a parking lot downtown, but this year’s festivities will be held at the Putnam County Convention Center on December 20th, from 12 to 6 p.m.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
“…progressive members of the community…” = lucifer’s servants.