With what has taken place over the past 12 months with the Bulldogs winning four gold footballs in 12 months and the Lady Bulldogs collecting their hardware on the basketball court and softball fields, one could very easily refer to Howe as “Victory Town” – at least for this one year. The Howe Area Chamber of Commerce is labeling Howe that for one night anyway and has named this year’s annual Christmas parade theme in fact, “Victory Town.”
The chamber is not charging a fee for entering a float in this year’s parade that starts at 4:30 pm on Saturday, Dec. 12. Howe’s newest version of the chamber formed this time a year ago and are still in growth mode.
The parade route will not change from last year as the trip through downtown sparked an excitement from the community. Floats will line up at the Howe Middle School on Beatrice Street back to the Howe Community Library. The parade route will be from Beatrice Street to Duke Street and then left on Denny Street (Highway 5). From there, the route will take a right turn on Davis Street in front of FBC Howe and then left for a block on Hughes in order to go through the heart of Howe on Haning Street’s downtown district. With the route heading west on Haning Street, it will then take a left on King Street and then back to Howe Community Library.
The float registration form can be found at the bottom of this page or by clicking here at howechamber.com on the bottom of the home page. Some of those that have already registered are radio stations K-Lake, KMKT and Mad Rock, Grayson County Commissioner Jeff Whitmire, Candidate for Grayson County District Attorney – Bobbie Peterson Cate, Howe Enterprise, Howe Area Chamber of Commerce, and Howe Youth Football 3rd and 4th Grade Super Bowl Champions. The highlight of the parade each year is the Highway 5 Band that consists of the high school marching bands of Anna, Van Alstyne and Howe.
The parade will be the final one of a day full of floats. Anna will begin their parade at noon followed by Van Alstyne’s 2 pm start. For businesses, it’s the perfect situation to be involved in three different communities by being in all three parades. Last year’s parade was chalked full of spectators but was not as heavy in participants that the chamber is seeking in 2015.
“With the turnout we have had throughout 2015 so far for our events, we are expecting similar results from the Christmas parade this year.” said Howe Area Chamber of Commerce President Robert Cannaday. “From our experience, community involvement has been great this year, so we believe that we should have a large turnout come December.”
The businesses downtown will be open and available for shopping and dining. The chamber and Keep Howe Beautiful will be decorating Howe very soon with candy canes, lollipops just as a year ago. They are hoping that all high-traffic homes will participate in a decorating contest. More information on that to be released soon.
