By John Brice Downtown LaFayette was abuzz with holiday activity related to the “Hometown Christmas on the Square” event which ran the course of the entire day and reached its grand finale with the annual Christmas parade on Saturday, December 16th of 2023. In a post to their official facebook page, LaFayette Main Street had previewed the upcoming event by announcing “Make plans to come out to the courthouse square on Saturday, December 16th, while LaFayette hosts its annual ‘Hometown Christmas on the Square’! Vendors and Food Trucks will begin setting up around lunch. Join the LaFayette Main Street Cookie Crawl and visit businesses to get free cookies starting at 10am with your Cookie Crawl Card! Vendors will set up from 1:00 – 8:00 so come get that Christmas shopping complete! The tree lighting will be at 5:00 followed by the annual parade at 5:30.”
Details of the cookie crawl were provided in another post which stated “Pick up your Cookie Crawl Card TODAY at our LaFayette Main Street office and visit with our famous Ms. Laura. She and Bethany are helping us distribute cards and boxes! Best volunteers around! We can also deliver if you are close to town and can’t get away from work! Just send us a message.
Our businesses will be open this Saturday, December 16th! Come out and support our local businesses and get some yummy cookies to enjoy.” Further updates were provided in a subsequent post noting “We gave out 50+ Cookie Crawl cards and boxes today so we are ready for the fun!!! Hope all our LaFayette Businesses are ready for the crowds and us #supportinglocal! Buy a gift or two while getting cookies to keep our dollars local! Don’t forget to share pictures and tag LaFayette Main Street! Make it even more fun by dressing festive and be on the look out for our Main Street magical elf Ginger! Turn in completed cards by 4pm cst at the LaFayette Main Street office for the downtown dollars drawing! Oh….. and our LaFayette Main Street cookies are so cute! We can’t wait to share! Thank you K&A Sweets! Also, a huge thank you to Auburn Opelika Dental for our cookie boxes!”
Participants and floats in this year’s parade included Grand Marshal Faye Seroyer, LaFayette Main Street, Vines Funeral Home, Probate Court Judge Paul Story and family, the Bulldogs Marching Band, LaFayette High School Cheerleaders, Chambers Academy Cheerleaders, candidate for CCSD Superintendent Dr. Sharon Weldon, WCAC Bee TV 33, Dixie Belle’s Cleaning Services, D. Lane Agency as well as a Chambers County Sheriff’s Office patrol cruiser and several fire trucks.
Reflecting on the success of the day’s efforts, a final post remarked “Christmas on the Square and the honored tradition for the City of LaFayette parade was magical time last night. In this time of year we are never assured of what the weather will do in our beautiful state of Alabama but we were blessed the rain held off! Our first annual LaFayette Main Street Cookie Crawl was an added bonus to this years events! Many of our local businesses had the best sales day yet and we thank you to our town! Thank you for coming out and showing support and love for LaFayette! Our parade participants, food trucks, vendors and community experienced truly a magical time for young and old. This is why we #lovelafayette”