KANNAPOLIS — Holiday festivities continue with the 78th Annual Cannon Pharmacy Kannapolis Christmas Parade on Dec. 10.

Starting at 6 p.m., the parade begins at the intersection of Main Street and Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, and concludes at the intersection of Vance and West Avenues. Thousands come out each year for this event.

The parade grand marshal is Lynne Scott Safrit. Safrit recently retired as president of Castle and Cooke North Carolina where she oversaw the development of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, a public private partnership with eight universities, including Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A native of Kannapolis, Safrit graduated cum laude with a BA from Catawba College, an MA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a doctorate of public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a licensed general real estate appraiser in both North and South Carolina. She is also a graduate of the North Carolina Bank Directors’ College.

Safrit is on the Board of Directors at the Bank of the Carolinas, the Board of Directors for the Gertrude Hinson Charitable Trust, the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center,  President of the Board of Directors for the Cabarrus County Economic Development Corporation, the Advisory Board for University of North Carolina at Charlotte College of Health and Human Services,  the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Arboretum, the Board of Directors for the Foundation of the Carolinas, and the Advisory Board of the College of Health Sciences at Appalachian State University. She is an adjunct faculty member at Appalachian State University.

She lives in Kannapolis with her family.