The “Tis the Season Spectacular” Holiday Parade will be held on Nov. 27 at 3 p.m. in downtown Salisbury with 133 entries. The parade committee named the Paul and Sue Fisher family as grand marshals. The contributions of this family are innumerable and the committee applauds them for their continued support of Salisbury and Rowan County. 

The committee also announced Ashley Currin as the 2025 Chair of the Tis the Season Spectacular. Shari Graham and Hen Henderlite, co-chairs since the parade started in 2018, are pleased Ashley accepted this leadership role. 

The parade will start at Kerr Street and end at Knox Street. Both of these locations are new for 2024. Parade watchers can view the parade further down South Main Street than in previous years. The event will be broadcasted live on 1280 WSAT Memories Radio and viewed on WSRG-TV, Spectrum Cable (channel 16) and Hotwire (channel 394). Following the parade, the broadcast will be uploaded to YouTube.

Entries for this year include 25 professional floats, many with popular entertainers such as Jacob Kluttz, concert pianist; The McKinney Gap Band; Lisa Trinity and Rockin’ Rachel B, Kevin Chapman; Ricky Foutz; and the Gethsemane Baptist Gospel Choir. Spectators will see popular characters such as Bluey, Pinkalicious and various Toy Story characters, plus a stilt walker and a fire-eating lady, just to mention a few. Fourteen marching units, including all the Rowan-Salisbury high schools, Livingstone and Catawba colleges and North Hills Christian School and drill teams from Essies School and Koontz Elementary will be represented, The Cross Creek Pipes and Drums from Fayetteville are returning. Six dance teams will usher in the holiday season as well as Ed’s Dinosaurs, the Los Gavilanes Mariachi Band, the Hung Gar Academy and more. The lineup represents the best of Salisbury and Rowan County.

The “Spectacular in the Park” begins following the parade with entertainment by the Tonez, a Christmas Cabin Bounce House, face painting, balloon art and an assortment of food and beverage trucks. The George and Margaret Family donated the Bell Tower Green Christmas Tree. Join their family at 6:15 p.m. in the park for the annual tree lighting event.

A special thank you to the parade partners that make this event happen: the Rowan County Tourism Development Authority, the Miller Davis Agency, Venue Services, Virtual Sounds, the Salisbury Fire Department, the Salisbury Police Department and the city of Salisbury.  

A parade of this size that includes spectacular entertainment is not possible without the support of sponsors.

Food Lion returns as presenting sponsor and Cloninger Ford and Bill and Shari Graham are the parade’s tinsel sponsors.

New Sarum Brewery, Trinity Oaks, Global Contact Services, F&M Bank, Wallace & Graham Gives, Catawba College, Novant Health and Catawba College are star sponsors.

Wallace Realty is the sleigh bell sponsor and Accelerated Therapy, Godley’s Garden Center, Teri Kidz Consignment and The Forum of Salisbury are mistletoe sponsors.

Tom Fisher and Felipe Edmiston, Anderson Dental Group, Greystone Salon & Spa, Matt and Gwin Barr, Salisbury Motor Co., John and Hen Henderlite, Madison and Ashley Currin, Salisbury Animal Hospital, La Cava Restaurant, Marty and Amanda Brennaman, Steve and Lina Drinkard, and Caniche are Santa’s helpers sponsors.