Editor’s note: Ask Us is a weekly feature published online Mondays and in print on Tuesdays. We’ll seek to answer your questions about items or trends in Rowan County. Have a question? Email it to askus@salisburypost.com.

A reader asked about the name and history of the Southern Rowan Christmas Parade.

But first: Is its official name “South Rowan Christmas Parade” or “Southern Rowan Christmas Parade”?

According to Patti Price, event coordinator for the town of China Grove, the official name is Southern Rowan Christmas Parade. It’s held at the southern end of the county and includes two towns, Landis and China Grove.

Judy Haire has been involved with the parade for several years and has served on the board of the China Grove Roller Mill. Haire says that before there was an official Southern Rowan Christmas Parade, there were other holiday parades in China Grove, Landis and southern Rowan County. For example, she found information in the “Chinaberry” book about Christmas parades being held in China Grove in 1958 and 1959.

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though, China Grove and Landis hosted joint Christmas parades that went through both towns. According to Haire, the first Southern Rowan Christmas Parade was in 1979.

A couple of years later, the name Southern Rowan Parades was incorporated, “making it Southern Rowan and not limiting it to Christmas parades only,” Haire said.

This year, the 41st annual Southern Rowan Christmas Parade starts at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Landis and restarts in China Grove at 4 p.m.