AHOSKIE – The jury was out, deliberating whether or not it would hurt moving the Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade from its traditional Saturday before Thanksgiving date to the second Saturday in December.

The verdict – successful!

Despite sharing the day with three other parades in the Roanoke-Chowan area (Jackson, Windsor and Winton), the Ahoskie event came off as a grand event, attracting over 100 entries.

“We even accommodated a few late entries; I thought it was one of the best parades we ever put together,” said longtime Ahoskie Chamber administrative assistant Betty Rawls.

Rawls was right…from start to finish, the Ahoskie parade was packed full of all the sights and sounds of Christmas.

Even the weather, a cold morning, made it feel typical of the season.

From an appearance by Miss North Carolina Katherine Southard, who served as the Grand Marshal, to Santa Claus, riding onboard Ahoskie’s antique fire truck, and all the entries in-between, the 2009 Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade was a big hit.

In the voting for the Best Float, Bearfield Primary School’s “Around the World” entry topped the list. Rivers Correctional (a float bearing the characters of the “Wizard of Oz”) placed second with Center Grove Baptist Church rounding out the top-three.